Aloha Kakou
by ballistics belle
Summary: "Other things may changes us but we start and end with family."  Anthony Brandt. Danny and Steve find out just how complicated family can be. slash
1. Aloha Kakou

**Author's note: **Yay! It's a new story which means a new chapter in life for Steve and Danny. Hi again to all of you who have followed me over from Aloha Oe and welcome to all you newcomers! You don't necessarily have to have read the first story for this one to make sense, but it wouldn't hurt. I want to give a HUGE shout out to my new beta NicheleDres! Thank you for taking on editing this story. I know it can be a task at times lol.

_Aloha Kakou is a Hawaiian phrase that means 'may there be love between us'._

* * *

"So which one of you is the bride?"

"Mary!" Steve exclaimed, giving his sister an exasperated look.

"What? It's a legitimate question," she defended as she sat sideways across the recliner. "Typically a wedding consists of a bride, a groom, and a bridal party. I'm just trying to understand what everybody's role is here."

Steve threw his head back and ran his hands through his short black hair.

"This isn't like a typical wedding," he stated. "It really isn't even a wedding at all."

Mary rolled her eyes. "Then what is it? Is it like a commitment ceremony?"

"Kind of," Steve shrugged. He wasn't quite sure what to call it. Hawaii didn't have any law that allowed for same-sex marriages or even civil unions. Instead, they had some form that he and Danny could file that would allow them to receive the same benefits as a married couple. It wasn't exactly what Steve had wanted, but it was the best that they could do. There was only paperwork involved, but when Kono had heard about it, she had insisted that they have some kind of ceremony to mark the occasion. It might not have been recognized in the eyes of the law, but it was for sentimental purposes.

Danny had been hesitant at first. He didn't want another wedding, claiming that he'd "been there, done that," but Kono had insisted that it wouldn't be like a typical wedding. It would simply be a gathering of friends and family to celebrate the union of two lives. There would be no preacher or Justice of the Peace to oversee the event, just loved ones. Danny had eventually caved and agreed to the ceremony.

Kono had taken over planning the details, and the two men were more than happy to hand the duty off to her. Neither of them had the first clue about what needed to be done in order to plan such an event. Steve had given Danny a hard time, saying that he should have at least some idea considering he had been married before. To which Danny informed him that he hadn't done a "damn thing but show up" to his wedding to Rachel. That fact really didn't surprise Steve at all.

"So, let me try to wrap my head around this," Mary stated. "You guys aren't technically getting married, but you'll have all the same benefits as a spouse would?"

"Basically," Steve replied.

"That's so stupid! Why don't they just let you get married like they would a man and a woman instead of making you go through a separate process?" she exclaimed.

"I don't know, Mar. You'll have to ask the politicians," Steve said as he lay down across the couch.

The last few days had been crazy trying to get all the last minute details in place for the ceremony. He still had a few more errands to run today, but Kono had told him and Danny that she had a surprise for them this afternoon at the house, so they couldn't leave until she arrived.

"When is Kono coming?" Danny asked as he walked into the room. "She said she'd be here before I had to leave to go pick up Grace – a time that is rapidly approaching." Steve shrugged in response and patted the vacant spot next to him on the couch. "What is this surprise anyways?" Danny continued, sitting down next to his fiancé.

"No idea," Steve mumbled.

Mary took the time to look at the couple. After Danny sat down next to him, Steve had moved and positioned himself so that his head was resting in the other man's lap. In response, Danny was looking down at him and fingering his hair while he spoke. They were a classic case of opposites attracting, but she found them to be kind of adorable too. There was her brother who was the big, strong, hulking kind of guy. And then there was Danny – the gentler, though no in no way soft spoken, man who, according to her brother, could fit the description of a nagging wife quite well at times. Looking at the two of them together confirmed her belief that all the good ones were either taken or gay – or, in this case, both.

A car door slammed outside and Mary laughed as both men jumped up. She followed behind them as they hurried to the door. Peaking over Danny's shoulder, she saw Kono walking up to the house with a blonde woman. Apparently Danny knew who this blonde was, became he wandered out ahead of Steve with his arms open wide.

"Casey? What the hell are you doing here?" Danny questioned as he hugged her.

"I'm here for your wedding or whatever it is." She waved a hand dismissively.

Steve looked at the visitor, and couldn't help but think that there was something awfully familiar about her.

"How'd you even find out about it? I didn't think you and mom were talking," Danny wondered, paying no attention to his partner's confusion. It clicked for Steve then. Danny didn't talk about his family much, but he remembered him mentioning a sister. Plus, he had seen a photograph somewhere of Danny with a woman who looked suspiciously like her.

"You think I talked to Ma? Has this island melted your brain? I would rather join the convent and take a vow of silence then have a conversation with her," Casey said vehemently. Steve couldn't help but think that she was like the female version of her brother. "Your girl Kono over there found me and told me about it. Which reminds me…" She turned and smacked Danny hard in the arm, "Why the hell did you not call and tell me?"

"I did call you. I even left you a message. You never responded."

"Oh shit, I must not have sent you my new number." She winced.

Danny raised an eyebrow. "Your new number?"

"Yeah, I had to get a new number because my psycho ex kept calling me," she explained as though it was no big deal.

"Psycho ex? Why didn't _you_ call _me_-" Danny's voice ?

"Right, and what were you going to do from halfway across the world? I handled it." Casey stared her brother down, causing Danny to toss his hands in the air in fond annoyance. "Now, since my brother has no manners, let me properly introduce myself. Hi, I'm Casey Williams, Danny's baby sister and the black sheep of the family." Casey smiled at him sweetly. Steve stepped forward to shake her hand.

"Why does she sound so proud about that?" Steve leaned over and whispered to Danny as he stepped back.

"Because she is," Danny confirmed. Steve just stared at Danny and nodded.

"Hey, where's my niece?" Casey asked, looking around for the little girl as if she would suddenly appear.

"At school. I have to go pick her up," Danny answered.

"Ooh, I want to go!" Casey exclaimed, her eyes wide. Steve couldn't help but smile at the childlike enthusiasm that the blonde seemed to have. He got the feeling that she wasn't the type to take life too seriously.

"Danny, take your sister with you. You guys can catch up on the ride. I'll grab the bags and get everything set up," Steve offered.

Danny gave him a look of appreciation as he directed his sister over to the Camaro.

Steve watched the two siblings interact with each other, and couldn't help but notice how similar they seemed to each other. As they were pulling out of the driveway, he caught a glimpse of Danny's face and saw a look that he knew from experience: exasperated patience. Steve smiled as he walked into the house. He had a feeling that things were about to get very interesting….


	2. A Woman, Child and a State of Grace

**Author's note: **So as you can all see, I've introduced an original character. I'm very happy with the positive reception that I've received to Casey as a character. She's going to be a fun one and very important to this story. We're going to be seeing a lot of her. Again, another shout out to my wonderful beta, NicheleDres. You're awesome. And to all of you who have reviewed and added this story to your alerts, you are truly inspirational and I will do my best to not let you down with this story.

_Children in a family are like flowers in a bouquet: there's always one determined to face in an opposite direction from the way the arranger desires. ~Marcelene Cox_

* * *

"So, Ma and Dad aren't coming?" Casey asked, messing with her hair in the visor mirror. She had been restless ever since they'd gotten in the car, and it was making Danny a little crazy. He was used to Steve who didn't move unless it was necessary.

"Ma said it was too far for Dad to travel in his health," he informed her.

"Anything farther away than the bathroom or the kitchen is too far away for Dad to travel, and it has nothing to do with his health. He's just fucking lazy," she said bitterly, flipping the visor back up.

"Yeah, well, I'm not quite sure how much he approves of the choices I've made recently." Danny frowned. His good Catholic mother had not been happy when he and Rachel divorced, and it had only gotten worse when he called her to tell her that he was getting remarried—to a man.

"Welcome to the dark side, Daniel!" Casey exclaimed, spreading her arms out wide. "Feel the blessed freedom that comes with being a black sheep."

"You're as nuts as Steve," he muttered.

Casey put her arms down and placed a hand on Danny's arm. Her expression turned serious. "I like him. You picked well, Bro. You got yourself another little hottie."

Casey smiled. It made Danny nervous.

"Don't you-"

"Oh my God, Danny, I'm not going to steal your husband! Besides, I've never been one for the tall, dark and handsome type. I like my men a little more pale and passionate." She laughed, but Danny didn't find it quite as funny. He knew his sister's taste in men, and it sucked. "Pale and passionate" was her nice way of saying "pretty boys who were emotionally unstable."

"Speaking of which, this psycho ex you were talking about… That wouldn't happen to be Jeremy the drummer, would it?"

"It's Jackson the guitar player, and no, it wasn't him. It was this guy I met, Austin. He's a cop who doesn't take rejection well. I handled it though. I changed my number and got a restraining order put out against him. And then I moved to Atlanta," she threw in at the end.

"Atlanta? What happened to San Francisco?"

"Too much fog," she sighed, sitting back in her seat. Danny threw a hand up in the air.

"Could you possibly, for my sanity, stay in one place longer than 6 months?" he asked, trying to remain patient.

"Hey, just because _you_ didn't want to leave New Jersey doesn't mean that I wanted to stick around. There's a big ol' world out there, Danny, and I want to be a part of it. I have to experience things, expand my horizon. I can't do that staying in one place."

"Yes, you can. It's called a vacation. You go somewhere for a week, maybe two. You see the sights, you eat the food, and then you come back to your home," Danny said, using the same kind of tone he used when he was trying to explain how to do something logically to Steve.

Casey rolled her eyes. "You'll never understand," she said. "Besides, I had a job down there."

"Had, as in you no longer possess?" Danny frowned.

"It was a contracted job. I completed the work that I was asked to do and was compensated fairly for it," she stated.

"What were you doing this time?"

"I was working for one of the newspapers. I had a contract for 10 articles for their community section over the course of a year. I just finished my last piece."

"So, they basically paid you to what? Go around town to bars and bake sales?"

"Hey! That was one of the best paying jobs I've had in a while," she defended.

Danny sighed as he parked the car. "So what's your plan now?"

Casey shrugged as she reached towards the door handle. "There is no plan, Danny."

The detective cringed and shook his head as he got out of the car.

"You've barely even met Steve McGarrett, and yet you're already stealing his lines."

* * *

Steve was thoroughly amused. Danny and Casey had returned about an hour after they'd left with Danny muttering something about Steve and his sister, and it not being fair. Steve had looked at him strangely, but didn't ask him about it. Kono and Chin were there, as well as Mary, and the six had enjoyed a pizza dinner together. Danny had cringed as he'd watched Casey eat a slice with pineapple on it.

"You're the mailman's child," he'd remarked as she reached for a second slice.

"It wouldn't surprise me in the least," she'd replied. Her voice had sounded serious, but her body language was casual.

Casey had then entertained them all during after dinner drinks with stories of her and Danny as kids while Danny interjected with his own perception of the situations. Steve had watched the siblings interact. Danny had a huge smile on his face when he looked at her. They clearly got along fine. So why hadn't Danny talked about her? Steve could remember hearing him only mention a sister, but never by name.

He asked Danny about it when they were lying in bed later that night.

"Hey, how come you've never talked about Casey before?" Steve asked as he pulled the covers up.

Danny sighed and snuggled down in the bed. He made sure that the two of them were comfortable before answering. This was going to take awhile.

"Let's just say you're not the only one with a sister you lose sleep at night worrying about. Casey's the baby of the family. She was an oops baby and everybody kind of made sure that she knew it. My parents were tired by the time she came around. My dad was retired from the force, and Ma just…didn't seem to want to raise another kid. I was out of the house when she was still pretty young. I tried to look out for her, but I was an adult and she was still playing with Barbie dolls."

Danny sighed. There was still a lot of guilt that he had for leaving his sister behind, and he'd always kind of wondered if she would have turned out differently if he had stuck around a little longer.

Steve pulled his lover into his arms a little more, sensing that this wasn't easy for Danny to talk about. He knew it wasn't easy to admit that your family life wasn't ideal and that you were helpless to change it.

Danny snuggled into Steve's arms and continued.

"She's friggin' smart," he said. "Ma wanted her to go to nursing school like all the other women in our family. Casey refused, and got her degree in American literature instead. She's a writer, which for some reason infuriates my family. They think she's being condescending and trying to be better than the rest of the family. We're all civil servants, but Casey has never been one to do something just because everyone else does it."

"So why does she worry you? Sounds like she can take care of herself."

"Because, as freaking smart as she is, she can be very stupid in her choice of men. She's a loser magnet, and it makes me crazy because she deserves so much better than the gutter rats she picks up. That, and the fact that she refuses to hold down a regular job. She does mostly freelance writing whenever the mood strikes her. So I never know when she's going to get evicted or starve because she hasn't been working. I've tried sending money only to get it sent back."

Steve could see the frustration in his partner's face. Danny just wanted to take care of his sister, but she would have none of it.

"Does your family help at all?"

"Ha! The day after her 18th birthday she had her stuff packed and was on her own. I tried to get her to move in with me, but Rachel and I had just gotten married and she didn't want to be a burden on us. I'm not sure her and our parents have had a true conversation since she moved out. She kind of told them to kiss her ass on the way out the door." Danny winced at the memory. It hadn't been kind of – she had literally told their parents to kiss her ass as she stormed out the front door.

That had been a particularly fun day dealing with his hysterical mother and pissed off sister as they screamed at each other. Their father had just sat in his chair and yelled at them to keep it down. Danny had wanted to pound him. His baby girl was about to walk right out of his life with the intention of never coming back, and all he could care about was the damn TV.

"So your parents just wrote her off?" Steve was taken aback. Even when Mary was at her worst, his father had refused to give up on her. If anything, he'd tried harder to be involved in her life and show her that he loved her by helping her turn her life around.

It had worked to a certain extent. Mary still had her moments, but she was at least able to take care of herself and lead a stable life. From what Steve was hearing, the youngest Williams could have used a little of that kind of loving as well.

"Look, I don't claim to understand their parenting style nor do I agree with it," Danny replied. "The damage is already done with her. I have tried and tried to straighten her out. I've tried being compassionate, and I've tried the tough love, but eventually it got to a point with her that the more I tried the more she pushed away from me. I had to back off so I wouldn't lose her like my parents did."

There was an aching tone to Danny's voice that Steve didn't like. He hated it when his partner went to the dark places in his mind. He'd spent too much time there before he met Steve, so the SEAL had made it his mission to make sure he stayed away from them as much as possible.

"You've done the best you could. She has to be willing to accept what you're saying and change. Until then, you just have to love her the way she is," Steve said softly, his lips brushing against the back of Danny's head.

Danny sighed. Casey was the only blood family he had right now, and he would be damned if he would let anything take her away from him.


	3. That We Got This Far

**Author's note: **Okay so this is the chapter you've all been waiting for! Danny and Steve are getting married. I am putting the warning out there that you may need to brush your teeth when you are done reading because it is sugary sweet but we like sugary sweet right? That's what weddings are all about! I also put the warning out that they may seem a little out of character here but I reserve the right to have creative license with the characters. So just sit back and go with me on this one.

* * *

'_Can you feel the love tonight? It is where we are. It's enough for this wide-eyed wanderer that we got this far…'_

Elton John's voice drifted into the house from the speakers set up in the backyard. Grace had obviously had some input on the music selections, Mary observed. She smiled at her brother who was standing perfectly still at the window, watching as people began to arrive.

"Are you nervous?" she asked.

"No." Steve shook his head, not looking at her. Then he added, "Do you think I'm making a mistake?"

Mary was taken aback. "Why would you even think that?"

"I don't know, Mar. I mean, nobody's ever accused me of being Mr. Commitment. Danny loves me and puts up with me _now_, but how long before it gets to be too much and he can't handle it anymore? And-" Mary walked over and put a hand over his mouth.

"You're seriously going to have a freak out now?" she exclaimed. "Steve, this isn't going to fall apart. How long have you and Danny been together? If he's put up with you for this long, what makes you think he won't in the future. I mean, for God sakes, he stuck with you while you went off to war. He flew to Italy and stayed with you for almost a month while you recovered. He loves you. He wants to have a family with you. He's not going to leave you. Do you understand?" Mary watched as her words settled into her brother's brain and calm replaced the panic in his eyes. She pulled her hand off his mouth.

"Yeah, I got it. I'm good now," Steve said, taking a deep breath.

Mary reached up and fixed his collar and jacket. He looked sharp in the tailored black suit and crisp white button-up she'd helped him pick out. The shirt was open at the collar, giving him a more laid back look. Danny had wanted to keep things more on the casual side. He had done the formal tux at his wedding to Rachel and it had been important to him to make sure that things were different this time around.

"Good, because it's time," she informed him.

Steve extended an elbow to her, and the siblings headed out the back door.

Danny and Casey were waiting on the lanai for them. Danny was also dressed in a black suit but had on a charcoal grey button up instead of white. The shirt matched Casey's dress nicely. It was a long, flowing sundress with an asymmetrical neckline and a belted waist. The color was a grayish-white with black splashes all over. One arm was covered by a long loose sleeve that reminded Steve of a wing, while her bare arm was tucked behind her brother's back.

When Casey saw Steve step out, she stepped away from her brother and held out her hands to him. In her left hand were the keys to the Camaro and a couple hundred-dollar bills. Her right hand held Danny's hand.

"Here's your last chance, Steven. You can either back out now and take the cash and the keys, or you can take this handsome man's hand and never let it go for the rest of your life," Casey offered.

Steve smiled and easily took Danny's hand. "I think I'll take option number two."

"Wise decision." Casey smiled as she stepped back.

Danny and Steve grinned at each other and continued to hold hands as they walked out towards the beach with their sisters following. Elton had been replaced by another male singer who serenaded them as they walked past the small group of guests seated on the beach. Slowly, they walked to where Kamekona, who had offered to perform the ceremony, was standing.

Because the ceremony wasn't actually a legal wedding, there was no preacher or justice of the peace. But Kono had wanted someone who had that kind of presence to lead the ceremony. She had gone to the big man to see if he knew anyone who would do it, but he had offered to do it himself. He was always willing to help the "bruddahs" out whenever they needed it, and this situation was no different.

Steve and Danny came to a halt standing side by side. Each sister gave her brother a kiss on the cheek as they went to stand on their respective sides. Danny gave Kamekona a slight nod to signal that they were ready, and then the big man smiled and nodded back.

"Bruddahs and sisters, we are all here today to bear witness to the love of Daniel Williams and Steven McGarrett. Aloha is a word that means many things. It means hello and goodbye, but it also means love. These two bruddahs have shown us all what the true meaning of Aloha is. Through happy and sad times, Danny and Steve have always found a way to make sure their love stayed strong. Before we get to the exchanging of the vows, Danny and Steve have asked their families to come and fill the unity jar as a symbol of uniting two families into one ohana." Kamekona looked to the two sisters and waved them up to the small table in front of him.

Casey and Mary met in front of their brothers, and walked up the table hand in hand. They each took one of the small jars of sand in hand and began to fill the larger jar. Kono had somehow managed to get sand from the Jersey shore for Casey to pour as Mary poured sand from this very beach, the one she and Steve had grown up on. The Jersey sand wasn't quite as white or soft as the Hawaiian sand, and it made a beautiful, symbolic contrast.

This was an important part of the ceremony for Steve, because it reminded him of the feelings he'd had when he'd received a bottle of sand from Danny while away at war. It brought a tear to his eyes as he remembered that now.

With the jar filled, Casey and Mary hugged and returned to their respective spots.

"Danny and Steve have written their own vows that they would like to recite to each other," Kamekona continued, gesturing to Steve for him to start.

"Danny," Steve began, turning so that he was facing his lover. He looked down and took the other man's hand. "Who you are speaks so loudly, that I don't need words to know what you're saying. From the very first time I met you, I knew that there was something different about you. When I asked you to be my partner, I never knew what a life changing decision I was making. I never knew when I was trusting my life into your hands, I was also entrusting my heart. I love you, Danny. I love your incessant ranting when you think I've done something stupid. I love how Grace brings out the softer, sweeter side to you. I love how fiercely loyal you are to the people who are important to you. And I love you for sticking by when I'm not that loveable. Ko Aloha Makamae E Ipo." Steve squeezed Danny's hand and smiled.

Kamekona gestured to Danny to let him know it was his turn. Steve reached over and wiped the tears off his lover's face while Danny cleared his throat.

"I can't begin to describe to you how surprised I was to find out that I was in love with you, Steve. I'd even hoped for a while that you'd push me away because I was terrified of giving my heart to someone only to have it broken again. But you didn't because you were just as scared and just as in love as I was. We've been through so much together in such a short amount of time. Our love has been tested and tried and just like the Energizer Bunny it keeps going and going. And I want you to understand that when I say I love you, it has nothing to with me. I love what you are, what you do, how you try. I've seen your kindness and your strength. I've seen the best and the worst of you. And I understand with perfect clarity exactly what you are. You are my partner, in every aspect of my life and from now on, I will wake up every day, look into your eyes, and I will thank God for letting me have you in my life."

With that, Danny took Steve's hand and brought it up to his lips, placing a light kiss on the back of it.

There wasn't a dry eye among the group. All of the women were wiping away tears while the men were furiously blinking as they tried to contain the tears in a losing battle. Casey was crying the hardest out of all of them. She had a hand over her mouth as she tried not to sob.

"It is now time for the exchange of the wedding bands," Kamekona said.

Casey and Mary walked over to their respective siblings and handed them the rings.

"Now Steven, take his hand and repeated after me," Kamekona instructed. Steve took the hand that he had been holding and raised it up. "This ring is a symbol of my devotion to you. The silver is untarnished and the circle unbroken, as is my love for you."

Steve took the small silver ring and slowly began to place it on his lover's hand as he repeated the words. When the ring was in place, he lifted the hand to his lips and kissed it softly.

"Now Daniel, take his hand and repeated after me."

Danny repeated the process of taking Steve's hand, holding the ring as he repeated the promise. He then took the ring and placed it on Steve's hand, adding, "Danno loves you."

Those last three words broke down Steve's barrier, and big tears began to roll down his cheek. Danny reached up to wipe them away.

"Now, for the first time I would like to introduce to your ohana, Mr. Steven McGarrett and Mr. Daniel Williams, together as one love." Kamekona spread his arms wide as he introduced the couple. The group began to hoot and holler as Steve and Danny broke into big smiles.

"Are you gonna kiss me or not?" Danny asked suggestively. Steve burst out into a big stupid grin as he leaned down and pulled his lover into his arms. He held him close and pressed their lips together softly.

"Aww, come on, Steve!" Casey exclaimed in the background. "Kiss him like you mean it!"

The two men smiled against each other's lips and began to slowly deepen the kiss. They continued on that way for a minute until the other sister cried out.

"All right, there are children present," Mary reminded them.

Danny rolled his eyes and slowly pulled back. "Why don't you kiss me like that more often?" He pretended to grumble as Steve still held him tight.

"I save it for special occasions," Steve responded.

"Then I guess we need more special occasion." The two men smiled at each other before turning to face the crowd. Kono rushed forward and wrapped them up in a big hug. Seeing this, Grace quickly ran up and squeezed her way into the hug. Casey and Mary followed.

"Chin!" Casey called out. "Get your ass in this pile. This is a family affair."

Chin walked over and found himself squeezed into the group as well. Caught up in the emotion of the afternoon, he had to admit that it felt good to have an ohana again.

* * *

_Ko Aloha Makamae E Ipo is a Hawaiian phrase that means 'sweetheart you are so precious'_


	4. Life Begins Again

**Author's note: **Party time! This of course means more Steve and Danny cuteness. Hopefully none of it is too out of character but if it is, well I take full responsibility. We're starting to set up for future events in the story here. I also wanted to mention something I keep forgetting. If anyone of you were at all curious (and if you aren't then ignore this) but I keep meaning to say that if I were going to cast an actress in the role of Casey in the show I would pick Rachel McAdams. That's who she reminds me of and who I kind of picture her to look like in my head. The song that Steve and Danny dance to as their first is "And I Love You So" by Don McLean.

* * *

The backyard had been transformed for the reception. There were a couple of tables surrounding a makeshift dance floor, and even more tables closer to the house that were covered with food. Kono had really outdone herself in putting this all together.

After dinner was finished, Kamekona announced that it was time for the couple's first dance. The two men slowly made their way to the dance floor. Steve place a hand on the small of Danny's back and used his other to hold his partner's hand tightly. They started to sway as gentle guitar music began to play.

'_And I love you so, people ask me how, how I've lived till now. I tell them I don't know. I guess they understand, how lonely life has been. But life began again, the day you took my hand…'_

"What?" Steve asked when he saw the big smile on Danny's face.

"Nothing. It's just that…everybody's watching us," the shorter man explained.

"Isn't that the point?" Steve commented as he spun them around.

"Well, yeah, but it isn't very often that you show affection like this in public. I get it, I do. You lived in a culture for a long time where _this _could never happen. It's just nice that we don't have to worry about that anymore." Danny shrugged.

He knew that Steve's military background had a huge affect on the way he displayed his emotions. When he was first getting to know the man, Danny was convinced that Steve McGarrett was incapable of displaying true human emotion. But with time, Steve opened up, and Danny saw a completely different man than the one he'd first met in the garage that day.

When Steve had been called back to active duty and sent away, Danny had been afraid that all the progress Steve had made would be lost. Steve McGarrett on active duty had a completely different personality than the Steve he knew; that man walked around the house in grungy clothes and liked to drink a couple beers too many on a Saturday night. But the Steve he fell in love with could not exist in the Navy, and there was nothing they could do about it.

Danny knew it couldn't have been easy for his partner to revert back to that life, especially with having to hide a huge part of himself. A weight had been lifted off his chest when he finally saw him in that hospital in Italy, and it was like they had never been apart.

He was just glad they didn't have to deal with that anymore. When Steve had returned home, the Governor informed them that the Navy had transferred him to the list of inactive reserves. This way he was still technically part of the Navy, but he couldn't be called back into active duty.

That had been an important factor for Danny. If he and Steve were going to go through with having their own family, he needed to make sure that Steve couldn't be called away again at any moment.

As the last few notes of the song rang out, Steve leaned down and kissed the top of his head. In response, Danny looked up and gave him a proper kiss. As they pulled apart, they felt a tug on their pants, and the two men looked down to see Grace staring up at them expectantly.

"You promised you'd dance with me next," Grace reminded Steve.

The big man bent down and picked up the little girl. "You're absolutely right," he said.

Danny stepped back to give the two some space. One of the things that had endeared Steve to him was the fact that Grace had taken to him so quickly. And his little girl was good for Steve too. Danny credited her with helping Steve open up with his emotions.

Steve settled Grace comfortably on his hip as a new song started. She in turn wrapped her arms around his neck and giggled as he started to walk around in incoherent circles.

The SEAL didn't have the words to even begin to tell Danny how much it meant to him that he allowed him to be a part of Grace's life. The little girl had been his guardian back into a normal life. She had shown him how to show emotions that he had suppressed and reminded him that unconditional love really did exist. Watching Danny and Grace interact with each other had brought back all the good memories he had with his mother.

Danny had to blink back the tears as he watched the two people he loved the most twirled around. It had been important to the father that Grace and Steve got along and that Steve was an important person in her life. He didn't want him to just be another stepdad to her (Step Stan was already filling that role just fine). Danny had wanted Steve to feel like Grace was his own. Seeing them together now, Danny knew that mission was accomplished.

Now they were talking about adding another child to their family. Danny had been unsure about the idea of adding to their family at first. He didn't want Grace to think that she was being replaced. She had actually been surprising understanding when he had talked to her about it over shave ice after school one afternoon. She had even told him that she thought it was a good idea because he and Steve were such good Daddys to her and she didn't want to be selfish. His little girl was growing up too fast, Danny thought to himself.

As the song came to an end, Steve twirled the two of them around quickly and Grace laughed loudly. Danny smiled. Steve was going to make a fabulous father.

"I love you Steve." She said, leaning closer so she could give him a peck on her cheek.

"I love you too Gracie." He kissed the back of her head as he carried her towards her father. "I think it's time for cake." Steve announced and couldn't help but laugh slightly at the bright expression on the child's face. He set her down as he came up next to Danny and the three walked over to where Kono was waiting by the cake. She handed them the knife and then began to snap off pictures as they held hands and cut the cake.

"Feed it to each other." She encouraged. Steve picked up a chunk of the cake from the plate and held it out towards his husband's face. Danny looked at him wearily.

"Steven…" Danny warned, seeing a suspicious glint in the dark haired man's eyes. Steve smile got bigger and before Danny could react, Steve had smashed the cake into his mouth. "You're dead." The shorter man declared as he grabbed his own chunk and copied his partner's actions.

Steve actually ended up with more of it on his chin due to the height difference but he laughed loudly anyways. He then leaned down to kiss Danny which only served to spread the frosting around their faces even more.

"You're a child." Danny said playfully as he wiped his own face clean. Steve just smiled and licked the frosting from the corners of his mouth. When their faces were clean again, the SEAL behaved and fed a piece to his spouse nicely.

After the formalities of the evening were over Steve and Danny had separated for awhile to make their way around the group to talk to and thank their guests for coming. Steve appeared back at Danny's side after about an hour or so. The blonde man was sitting at the table with his sister when he came up to them.

"Danny, the Governor has to go so we need to say goodbye," he informed his husband.

Danny nodded and excused himself as he headed off towards the small crowd. Steve turned to follow, but Casey reached out and grabbed his arm before he could walk away.

"I just wanted to say how happy I am for you two. You're really good for my brother. But I also want you to know that if you hurt him, I don't care if you're a Navy SEAL, I will make you pay," she warned.

Steve smiled. He liked how protective Casey was of her big brother.

"Trust me, I don't ever plan on letting Danno go." Steve assured her.

"Danno?" Casey raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that what Grace calls him?"

"Yeah," Steve said sheepishly. "I kind of stole it from her."

"And Danny lets you get away with calling him that?"

"Begrudgingly, yes," Steve nodded.

Danny bitched about it all the time, but he never had any serious intent behind it. Casey just smiled and shook her head.

"He really must love you then."

She smiled as she got up. On her way to the bar, Kamekona caught her and asked for a dance. She accepted with a smile.

Across the beach, Danny watched his sister smile, and laughed as the big man twirled her around. He liked seeing her so laid back and relaxed. Too often she was in fighter's mode, always on the defensive. It was nice to see her put the fists away and just be happy.

Steve came up behind Danny and wrapped his arms around him after he had finished with the Governor.

"Are you happy?" he asked, resting his chin on Danny's shoulders.

"Of course I'm happy!" he exclaimed. "I just snagged one of Hawaii's most lusted after bachelors. Why wouldn't I be happy?"

Steve sniggered at the comment, and Danny laughed along with him.

"Can we just stay like this forever?" Steve murmured into his new husband's ear.

"God I hope so," Danny replied.

In that moment, he was more content then he had been in years. And all it had taken was the man that he was currently wearing like a second skin.

"You know we owe Rachel and Stan a thank you, right?" he asked

"Why?"

"If they hadn't moved out here with Grace, I never would have left Jersey, which means that I never would have followed them here. Then I never would have joined the HPD. And _that_ means that I never would have met you," Danny explained.

Steve kissed the back of his lover's head. "We'll send them a fruit basket," he said into Danny's hair. The two laughed again, and Steve tightened his grip on Danny. At the moment, life was pretty perfect, and the couple just wanted to stay there as long as they could.

* * *

The next morning found everyone gathered at Danny and Steve's house. They'd all been invited brunch before Steve and Danny left on their honeymoon. Kono, Mary and Danny all looked like they were struggling a little bit with hangovers while Chin, Casey and Steve smiled at them sympathetically.

Afterwards, Chin and Kono had borrowed Steve so they could show him how to use the international phones they were taking, as well as the outlet adapters. Mary had gone to lie down while Casey had remained at the table with Danny, needing to talk to him.

"Why didn't you tell me about you guys wanting to adopt a baby?" she questioned.

"Damn, Steve's got a big mouth," Danny groused.

"Hey, don't blame my brother-in-law!... Mary told me about it. What I want to know is why you didn't tell me!"

"Because there's no guarantee that it's actually going to work. We talked to an adoption agency, but that doesn't mean that we're going to end up with a baby. We're not exactly the most ideal couple to give a baby too," Danny said. Casey could hear the fear and uncertainty in his voice.

"Have you found anyone yet?"

"No, we just started the process. It could be months before we get matched up with someone."

Casey reached over and placed a hand on his. He put down the fork he had been using to push eggs around his plate.

"God has a funny sense of timing, Danny. You never know when things are going to fall into place."

Casey had an extremely serious expression on her face, and Danny didn't like it. Something about it was unsettling to him.

"So, are you going to take me up on my offer to stay for awhile?" he asked, changing the subject. He had asked Casey to stay in Hawaii for awhile knowing that she didn't have any idea where she was headed next. He thought it would be good for them to spend some time together. It had worked for Steve and Mary.

"I don't know…"

"Have you found a new place to live? Do you have a new job? What reason could you possibly have for not staying for a while?"

Casey cursed under her breath. He had her, and he knew it.

"Fine, I'll stay, but it's nothing permanent. It's just until I find something else," she warned.

"Good. You can stay here at the house. I already talked to Steve, and he said it's fine."

"I'm only staying until I can find my own place, though," Casey stated. "I don't need you to take care of me. I'll try to find some place before you guys get back from your honeymoon. Which, by the way, where are you going?"

"Paris." Casey looked at him in surprise. "We wanted something completely different from here." She shrugged and popped a piece of fruit in her mouth. "Will you take care of Grace for me while I'm gone? I don't want her to get off her schedule."

"Yeah, so long as it only means limited interaction with your ex," Casey replied shortly.

Danny sighed, "You still don't like her?"

"She put you through hell, then tried to break you down and steal your child away from you, so excuse me if I'm not rushing to have tea with the woman," Casey said bitterly. She knew that Danny had to let go of some his anger because of Grace, but that didn't mean that she couldn't still be pissed off for the both of them.

"Yeah, well, don't start anything with her while I'm gone. I've finally established a civil relationship with her again. And don't get into any other kind of trouble. I don't need a phone call from Chin or Kono because you've gotten yourself arrested," Danny warned.

Casey threw her hands up. "Why do you think I'm such a bad person?"

"I don't think you're a bad person. I think you're a good person who just occasionally does stupid things," he clarified. His sister glared at him and stood up. "You're mad at me," he called after her.

"You're an amazing detective," she responded sarcastically. "I'm walking away from you now before I 'do something stupid.'"

Danny heard the lanai door slam closed. He ran his hands through his hair and began to wonder if asking his sister to stay was such a good idea.


	5. City of Lights

**Author's note: **Well some of you are definitely catching on to what's going to happen in this story but I'm making you wait one more chapter before you find out. Cruel, I know but I think you'll be happy when you read this chapter. Just some cute little Steve and Danny fluff because they're just so damn perfect together.

_More marriages might survive if the partners realized that sometimes the better comes after the worst~Doug Larson_

* * *

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Steve grumbled as he reached for his wallet.

"But you love me," Danny replied simply. "And if you love me, you have to love my ties."

"Oh really?" Steve smiled in amusement.

"Yes, my ties are very important to me. They are part of my persona," Danny said, gesturing to himself as Steve paid for the items in question.

"You realize these I just spent a ridiculous amount of money on something you're going to ruin the first week back to work, right?"

Steve handed his husband the bag as the two men walked out of the shop.

"No, because number one, I'm not going to wear these ties to work. They're reserved for special occasions. And number two, you _could_ help to avoid me ruining my ties by not consistently doing something stupid," Danny pointed out.

"I still can't believe that I let you talk me into feeding into your clothing obsession. I'm an enabler!"

Steve had a mock disgusted look on his face. Danny just patted him on the back and rolled his eyes.

"If we find a high end cargo pant boutique, I promise to return the favor, Babe."

He enjoyed the deep laugh that erupted from the taller man's throat. It was good to see Steve so relaxed. He always seemed to be on alert back on the island – as if danger was lurking behind every corner (although sometimes it did feel that way). It was nice to get away from all of that and remember that there was still a peaceful world out there.

Paris had been amazing. Steve had told Danny when they were planning their honeymoon that they could go wherever he wanted. For the detective, the decision had been easy. While most people would want some warm sandy beach, Danny had wanted the exact opposite. They could have a warm sandy beach anytime. All they had to do was walk out the back door. No, the haole was craving something different – something a little more like home. So, he had chosen Paris. There was something about the big city with its old world charm that was comforting to him.

They had been having a wonderful time walking around the city, hand in hand, with no one even giving them a second look. It was nice to be able to enjoy themselves without having to deal with the social repercussions that surrounded them in the States.

Danny was also enjoying being able to take the lead when communicating in public. He'd found out the first night there that, of all the languages Steve did know, French was not one of them.

"_You know Mandarin and God knows how many other obscure languages, but you don't even know basic French?" Danny asked in disbelief as they entered their hotel room._

"_It was never a necessity for me. Anyone I ever dealt with from here spoke English," Steve said defensively. "My question is this: what possible reason you could have for knowing French?"_

_Danny sighed and sat down on the bed. _

"_Rachel's stepmother is French. Her English is shaky at best, so Rachel insisted that I learn the language so I could communicate with her and make her father happy. It was a total waste of time and money because I only ever spoke a whole two sentences with the woman, and Rachel's father hates me," Danny explained. _

_Steve came and sat down next to him._

"_At least you don't have to worry about in-laws this time around," Steve said. He tried to make is sound like a joke, but the humor was masked by the obvious pain in his voice._

"_Steve…"Danny reached over and grabbed his hand when he saw the tears forming in his husband's eyes. This was one of the first times that Steve was really opening up about his parents, and he wasn't sure what to say._

"_My mom would have liked you," The SEAL admitted, taking a shaky breath. "She was a no-nonsense kind of person. And she would have liked the way you take care of me." _

_Danny reached up and brushed a hand over Steve's cheek. "Well, someone has to since you're pretty awful at taking care of yourself," he said with a smile. Steve smiled too. "Unfortunately, you get the joy of having _my_ parents as in-laws."_

Steve hadn't known how to reply to that comment at the time. From what he'd heard from Danny, his parents were good people. Strict, but good people nonetheless. But he was having a harder time liking his in-laws after recent events. Between what he'd heard about the way they had treated Casey growing up, and the vivid memory of the way Danny had reacted when he found out his parents weren't coming to the ceremony, Steve wasn't sure if they were good people or not.

It had taken Danny some time to work up the courage to call his parents and tell them that he was getting remarried – to a man no less. It wasn't that he was ashamed to tell them about Steve; it was that he was terrified of their rejection. The SEAL had figured out very early that Danny could handle a lot of things, but rejection was the one thing got to him. It was just one of the reasons that his divorce had been so painful.

When the Jersey boy had found out that his parents weren't coming, it had set something off inside of him that Steve had never seen before. After hanging up the phone, Danny had sat quietly for a second before he began to pound his fist hard into the wall. Steve had rushed over to him to try to stop him before he hurt himself. He'd only seen that kind of rage out of Danny one other time, and that was after his old HPD partner had been murdered. The shorter man had started yelling about whether it was "too much ask for his parents to at least pretend to be happy for him?" It had taken Steve almost the whole rest of the night to calm his lover down. That's why he was so glad that Casey, at least, had been there for Danny.

The Williams siblings reminded Steve a lot of him and Mary. They had their moments when they could be at each other's throats and got on each other nerves, but things had gotten better between the McGarrett children since Mary had returned to the island. Steve was hoping that Casey spending some time with Danny there would help them too. Family had become extremely important to Steve recently. After his father's death, he'd felt like it was all slipping away slowly and he was going to end up alone. Then Danny Williams barged into his life, and suddenly the loneliness was gone. The detective had irritated his way under Steve's skin and somehow found his way into Steve's heart. They were partners in every sense of the word, and Steve couldn't imagine his life being any other way now.

"Danny, how are we going to get all of this stuff home?" Steve asked, raising up his hands that were full of bags. They'd been shopping all day for souvenirs to bring home to everyone.

"That's a very good question, Steven. One that I am going to leave to you to figure out because you are the strategic planner. I'll just follow your lead," Danny answered.

Steve smiled brightly.

"Why are you smirking like that? You scare me when you smirk like that."

"I'm going to remember you said that when we get home," the SEAL promised.

Danny threw his arms up. "What did I tell you about quoting me to me?" he complained.

Steve only smiled bigger as he followed behind his husband back to the hotel. Danny Williams was a part of him now, for better or for worse.


	6. A Funny Sense of Timing

**Author's note: **So this is the chapter that everybody has been waiting for. Some of you have already figured out what's going to happen and I hope that this lives up to your expectations. I'm going to try to hit all the important parts in this whole process. Life's about to get even interesting for our favorite guys!

_A grand adventure is about to begin~ Winnie the Pooh_Danny and Steve got home from the airport early in the morning and went straight to bed, sleeping for most of the day. Steve groaned as he started coming around. It felt good to be home, in their own bed, with the familiar sounds and smell of the island surrounding them. And though he'd never admit it to Danny, he was ready to get back to work too. He wasn't used to spending so much time doing essentially nothing. For most of his adult life, he had always been on the go. Between the Navy and now 5-0, all this time off was a somewhat new experience for him.

* * *

Steve took a deep breath and caught a whiff of someone cooking. He rolled over, expecting to find the other side of the bed empty, but was instead greeted with a moan as he made contact with his husband. If Danny wasn't the one making the house smell so good, that only left one person.

"Hmm, who's cooking?" Danny mumbled into the bed as he caught onto Steve's train of thought.

"I think your sister is in the kitchen," Steve answered.

"That's funny," Danny snorted. "My sister doesn't know how to cook."

"Well, somebody's in the kitchen, and she's the only other person I know of in the house," Steve retorted.

Danny groaned and rolled over. "Maybe Chin or Kono snuck over," he speculated.

"Well go find out," Steve said, giving the other man a nudge.

"Why me? You go find out." Danny nudged him back.

"Because it's _your_ sister," Steve replied. It was a juvenile answer, sure, but it was the best he could come up with his foggy mind.

"She's your family now too," Danny reminded him indigently.

Steve groaned and rolled onto his back.

"Fine. We'll _both_ get up," he declared.

Both men took a second to stretch before attempting to stand.

"That airline lied about having extra leg room," Steve grumbled as he hobbled towards the bathroom. His knees and hips were locked up from being cramped on the long flights home.

"It's extra room for normal sized people like me, Darling, not giants like yourself," Danny teased as he waited for Steve to emerge.

"Yeah, well, it's going to take me days to straighten myself out again," Steve whined as he exited the room.

Danny did have pity on his partner. His own knees (especially his damaged one) weren't exactly working in top form at the moment. He made a mental note to try to work out some of his husband's kinks so long as the dark haired man behaved himself. The two men hobbled their way downstairs where they found Casey, alone in the kitchen.

"Hey guys," she acknowledged as she stirred something in a pot. "I figured you guys would probably be hungry and not in the mood to cook, so I thought I'd throw something together." Casey turned her attention to the other larger pot on the stove.

"What did you make?" Danny asked, slightly skeptical.

"Spaghetti with red sauce and garlic bread. It's just jarred sauce and a frozen loaf of bread, but it's still pretty good." She shrugged. Casey knew she was no master chef but she knew enough of the basics to get by. "I think there's some wine left over from the ceremony if you want it."

Danny went to one of the cabinets and pulled out 3 glasses before heading to fridge where he found an unopened bottle of red wine. Casey finished up the last parts of the meal as Steve set the table.

"No wine for me," she told her brother as he started to pour. Danny set the bottle down and looked at his sister.

"Since when do you not drink? What? Are you pregnant or something?" Danny laughed. Casey's eyes went wide for a second before she ducked her head down and began to dish out noodles on the plates. Danny noticed and his face dropped. "Casey you're not..." His voice trailed off as her face confirmed it.

"Danny..." she started, trying to keep him from going off.

"Whose is it?" he demanded.

"Why does it –" she started. He cut her off.

"Whose baby is it, Casey?" he asked, repeating the question. His sister just looked at him. "You don't know?" Danny's eyes bugged out a little

"No! I mean, _yes_, I know whose it is. You're just not going to like it," she admitted reluctantly.

"What are you talking about?"

"It's Micah's," she said softly, knowing what was about to come.

"What have I told you about him? I _told_ _you_ that he was bad news, but did you listen to me? _No!_ You went back to him even though you told me once again that you were done with him. And _now_ look what he's done to you!" Danny ranted.

"What he's done to me? For God sakes, Daniel, it's not like he raped me. Everything was one hundred percent consensual. You're acting like I had no part in this," Casey retorted, her eyes dancing with indignation. "I am an adult, Daniel, and I can make my own choices. I didn't tell you about Micah because I knew you'd react like this! God, I should have known better than to think you could be compassionate about this." She set down the spoon and took a deep breath, "You and Steve enjoy your dinner. I'm not exactly hungry right now." Then she disappeared upstairs.

Danny started to go after her, but Steve reached out and held him back.

"Let her go, Danny," he commanded. The blonde man looked at him and then took a deep breath and nodded. Danny came and sat down at the table next to him. Steve pushed a full wine glass towards him as an encouragement to drink it and calm down.

"Hey…" Steve began

"Don't, Steven. Just...don't."

"Look, I understand what you're going through. If this were Mary, I'd be ready to go out and kill this guy. But Casey doesn't need your anger right now, she needs your support."

"It's just... I saw this coming," Danny said. "I knew he was bad news and that he was going to do something like this to her. That's why I have repeatedly told her to leave him alone. But she never listens." Danny ran his hands through his hair as he let out a big breath.

"Who is this Micah guy?" Steve asked, trying to understand why his husband was so upset.

"He's Casey's favorite scumbag." Danny sighed. "She met him when she was in college. He's the lead singer in some band that's kind of famous. He gives her just enough attention to keep her interested. That way, whenever he's lonely or he's bored, he can call her up and she'll turn her whole world upside down to be with him. He'll keep her around for a couple of months, makes her think she's the greatest thing ever, and then, when he's done using her, he just pushes her aside again. Casey told me a year ago that she was done with him for good, that she was tired of the way he treated her. Clearly she has no will power because she told me she was in Atlanta. Well, I looked up this guy and guess what? He has a house just outside of Atlanta where he's been working on his next CD." Danny drained the contents of his glass and rubbed at his temples. Talking about Micah always gave him a headache.

Steve scooted over closer to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

"Why does she keep going back to him if he treats her so badly?"

"God Steve, I wish I knew. Because, if I knew, I could have gotten her away from him before any of this happened." Danny sighed and leaned towards his lover. "I just wanted to protect her."

"I know, Danny," Steve replied. "Trust me, I know. But she's not yours to protect." Steve knew it wasn't exactly what his partner wanted to hear, but it was something he _needed_ to hear. "Casey is not your child. Her getting pregnant does not reflect badly on you or anything you've tried to do for her. She is an adult who is fully capable of making her own choices and living with the consequences of those choices."

Steve placed a kiss on the side of Danny's head.

"I should probably go talk to her," Danny said with a sigh, pulling away from Steve slightly. The dark haired man nodded. Danny sighed and pushed his chair away. This was not a conversation he was looking forward to having.

* * *

"Knock, knock." Danny said, tapping on the door as he opened it.

"Leave me alone," she mumbled into the pillow, not bothering to look at him.

"Sorry, Kid, but that's not an option. Not until we talk."

Danny walked in and sat down on the bed next to her.

"You want to yell at me some more?" she asked, picking her head up a little.

"No, I want to talk about this." He readjusted himself on the bed and gestured for her to sit up. She did so reluctantly.

"I know I fucked up, Danny. I don't need you to tell me that. And no, I don't know how it happened. We used birth control," she added as an afterthought, like it made a difference at this point.

"Plenty of babies have been born to parents who used birth control," he pointed out.

"Like me?" she asked bitterly. Danny winced but decided not to address the comment.

"How'd you find out?" Danny asked, changing the subject. He figured it was better to just move on from that topic.

"I found out just before I left Atlanta," Casey admitted sheepishly.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"The timing wasn't right. When I got here, it was supposed to be about you and Steve and the wedding. I was going to tell you, but I just didn't know how." She shrugged. Danny pushed a stray piece of hair out of her face and suddenly he felt like she was fifteen years old again and was trying to explain to him why she got suspended from school. "Besides, I didn't know what I was going to do about it yet."

"What are you–" Danny was confused for a second until realization hit him. "Are you telling me you were thinking about having an–"

"I considered it," she admitted, cutting him off. "It was after a particularly nasty conversation with Micah, and I was confused. But I couldn't go through with it."

"So you're going to keep it?"

"Yes and no. I want to give the baby up for adoption…and I was kind of hoping that you and Steve would…take it." She went silent, bracing herself for his reaction.

"What?" Danny sputtered. He looked a little stunned by this revelation.

"I'm not cut out to be a mom, Danny. I'm a nomad who can barely take care of herself as it is. Plus, I have terrible taste in men. Not exactly mother of the year qualities. And I know that you would constantly be worrying about us, harassing me to settle down somewhere and get a normal, stable job. I just don't think that I'm the kind of person who can just flip a switch and change because I have a kid."

Casey had been agonizing over this decision from the moment she found out she was pregnant, and the cons to her keeping this baby far outweighed the pros.

"I don't know, Casey." Danny said, still not quite grasping what his sister was trying to tell him.

"Look, I'm not asking you to clean up my mess. I know this isn't your responsibility, but I can't do this. I can't be the kind of parent that this baby deserves. But you and Steve _could_. Mary was talking about how you guys were thinking about adopting a baby, and this baby would be blood. I don't want to give 'em away to some stranger where I have no idea how they'll be treated. I want to give my baby to someone that I know will cherish and love him or her, and give him or her everything. I want to give this baby the life I always wish I could have had. I've seen you two with Grace, and I'm jealous of her. I would have done anything to have had Mom and Dad treat me the way you guys treat her."

"You're serious about this?" Danny questioned, searching her face for confirmation.

"This isn't some whim, Danny. I've thought long and hard about this, and it's not something I take lightly. But I know I'm not cut out to be a mom, let alone a single mom."

"I don't want you to regret this," he cautioned.

"I'm not gonna lie and say it won't be hard, but this isn't about me. It's about giving this kid the life it deserves. It shouldn't have to suffer because its mom is a fuck up and its dad is a loser. I have the chance to give this baby two parents who'll be amazing."

Danny looked his sister in the eye, and could tell that everything that she had said she meant wholeheartedly.

"We need to talk to Steve about all of this." he declared, swallowing thickly. Casey nodded in response. "I want to make sure you understand this Casey, that this isn't something you can go changing your mind about after the fact. I can't have you getting Steve's hopes up only to crush him later. I can't let you do that to him. This has to be a permanent decision," he told her forcefully.

"Danny, I've never been more sure about something in my life," she declared.

"Okay then. Let's go tell Steve he's about to get his wish."


	7. Blindfolded on a Roller Coaster

**Author's note: **Okay so I want to start getting opinions now. I have an idea of what I want Steve and Danny's baby to be but I'm curious to see what you guys want so, would you rather see them have a little girl or a little boy?

_It has been said that adoption is more like a marriage than a birth: two (or more) individuals, each with their own unique mix of needs, patterns, and genetic history, coming together with love, hope, and commitment for a joint future. You become a family not because you share the same genes, but because you share love for each other.-Anonymous_

* * *

"Steven, we need to talk to you!" Danny announced as he and Casey descended down the stairs.

"I'm in here," Steve called from the kitchen where he'd been putting away the remnants of dinner. "What's up?"

"My sister has something that she would like to tell you," Danny said as he took a seat at the table.

Casey looked at her brother and then took a deep breath.

"Well, Steve, I've been thinking about my…situation, and I've come to the conclusion that I'm not cut out to be a mother. So, I've decided that I want to give the baby up for adoption…" She paused for a second. "…and I want you and Danny to be the adoptive parents."

Steve's face was unreadable for a moment while he processed the information. Then, without warning, he gathered Casey up into his arms and grasped her tightly in a hug. Casey's eyes bugged out at the contact and she went stiff as a board for a moment. But she relaxed when she heard laughter coming from Steve.

"Casey, this is fantastic. Of course Danny and I will adopt the baby!" Steve exclaimed. He then quickly looked over his shoulder at his husband. "You did say yes, didn't you?"

"Of course I said yes." Danny rolled his eyes. Steve let go of the woman in his arms, a giant smile lighting up his face. Casey began to laugh but the laughter quickly gave way to tears streaming down her face.

"What's wrong?" Danny asked, standing up from the table and approaching his sister.

"I'm just so relieved. I've been so stressed out about what I was going to do and how you two were going to react that it's just such a weight lifted off my shoulder." She admitted, wiping at her face.

"Why were you worried about our reaction?" Steve asked.

"I didn't want you guys to feel obligated just because I'm family. I wanted you to _want _this child, not feel like you _had _to take this child." Casey replied sheepishly.

"Casey, this baby being family makes us want it _more_." Steve assured, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"That's what I was hoping you would say." She said taking a deep breath. "I didn't know what I was going to do if you guys hadn't said yes."

"Well you don't have to worry about it anymore." Steve wrapped his sister-in-law in another hug. Casey gave a final swipe to her face to make sure it was dry.

"Damn hormones." She cursed. "I _never_ cry and now I'm tearing up over everything." Danny laughed loudly.

"Kid, you have no idea what you're about to go through." He informed and then looked over at his husband. "That goes for you too, Steven. Living with a pregnant woman is like being blindfolded on a roller coaster-you never know when the twists and turns are going to come."

* * *

Steve had been so overwhelmed with excitement and joy when Casey asked them to adopt her child that he hadn't stopped to think objectively about the whole situation. He and Danny wanted a child badly. They'd begun talking about it, and all the steps they'd have to go through in order to adopt, while he was recuperating at the naval hospital in Italy after the IED attack.

Then, when they'd returned to the island, they'd sought out an adoption agency that specialized in placing children with same-sex couples like them. The caseworker had warned them that same-sex couples weren't always the most popular choice with birth mothers, but that there were still plenty of babies out there in need of good homes. Still, they had been prepared to wait awhile for their wish to come true.

_Babies don't just fall into people's laps, _Danny had remarked after their appointment.

_Apparently they do, _Steve thought to himself as he lay in bed that night. And it was this thought that had been keeping the SEAL awake. It all seemed too easy. They wanted to adopt and now Casey was pregnant with a baby that she didn't want? It all just seemed too good to be true for Steve, and left him feeling like the other shoe was about to drop.

"Danny, are you sure your sister's okay with this?" Steve asked.

"Okay with what?" Danny muttered sleepily from his side of the bed.

"The adoption. I mean, it might seem like a good idea _now_. But she's just getting out of a bad relationship and is still freaked out about the whole pregnancy thing. What happens when she gets used to the idea?"

Steve propped himself up on his elbows, facing his husband.

"Can this conversation wait for a more reasonable hour?" Danny whined.

"No, Danny, it can't wait. What if we agree to adopt this baby, but then, once she sees her kid, Casey decides to keep it? What if her ex won't hand over his parental rights? What if –"

Danny turned over to face Steve and placed a finger on his lips to stop his desperate ramblings.

"Babe, I talked to Casey about this before we came to talk to you. I told her that this wasn't something she could do on a whim. That, if we were going to do this, the decision had to be permanent."

"Yeah, but –"

"No buts. She's thought this through, Steve. This isn't something she's going to change her mind about," Danny reassured his husband. But the tension on Steve's face didn't lessen. "You're still not convinced," Danny stated.

"Casey's young," Steve explained. "And I know she's your sister, but even you have to admit that she's a little flighty. Who's to say she won't just take off when she realizes she's made a mistake?"

"Who's to say I don't just stick a pillow over your head and smother you?" Danny asked sarcastically. "Seriously, why are you so worried about this?"

"You're _not_ worried about this?" Steve wondered.

"I worry about a lot of things. I worry about Grace, and if she's happy with her life. I worry about you, and your incessant need to take stupid risks that put you in danger. Which, by the way, then leads to me worrying about you dying. But shockingly, this is one of the few things that I am not worrying about. So, please, tell me why you are," Danny insisted.

Steve flopped back onto the bed, his eyes staring at the ceiling rather than at Danny.

"It's too easy," he said softly. "We just started the process of getting a baby, and now we're just being handed one? There's got to be a catch."

Danny sighed, "This may be hard to accept, but isn't it possible that maybe it is actually this easy? That maybe for once we don't have to struggle for our happiness?"

Steve thought about that for a minute. It was _possible_, sure. It's just that it was hard for Steve to believe that things could be this easy when he'd spent most of his adult life doing things the hard way. But ever since he'd met Danny, life hadn't been so much of a struggle. Steve rolled over into Danny and snuggled up next to his partner.

"You may be right," Steve admitted.

Danny smiled and stroked his husband's soft, dark hair.

"You know, I think that's my second favorite phrase to hear come out of your mouth."

"Oh really? And what would be the first?" Steve asked, looking up at him.

"I love you," Danny replied.

It was Steve's turn to smile as he saw his lover's blue eyes sparkle brightly in the darkness. He leaned up and kissed Danny.

"I love you too, Danno."

* * *

"Did you find it?" Danny called up through the hole in the ceiling.

"No," Steve called back, swatting away the cobwebs as he went deeper into the attic. "But I know it's up here. My parents were pack rats. They never threw anything out."

Steve was currently in the attic looking for his crib that he had used as a baby. He had gotten the idea that morning when he, Danny and Casey had been discussing the new living arrangements. It had been decided (well more like Danny and Steve insisted) that Casey would stay with them at the house while she was pregnant instead of getting her own place. She would use Mary's old bedroom while they set up Steve's old bedroom as the nursery

"Are you sure that thing's safe? I mean, if that thing's as old as you are, it could have lead paint or rotten wood." Danny rubbed the back of his neck, trying not to sound worried.

"It doesn't have lead paint, Danny," Steve hollered back.

"Really? Cause, you know, you eating lead paint chips would sure explain a lot," Danny teased. A raggedy looking stuffed animal flew down at him. He glared at the hole and picked up the item.

It was an old stuffed bear that looked suspiciously like Winnie the Pooh. The left ear looked severely worn down, and Danny could almost imagine little Steven chewing on the ear absently while he slept. He fingered the toy gently. He would have to put this one aside for safekeeping.

"Ah ha! I knew it was up here!" Steve exclaimed.

The crib had seen better days. The white paint was almost completely chipped away, and the wood was rough and splintering. It would need a lot of work to be suitable to hold a child again, but Steve was looking forward to it.

Both of the McGarrett children had called the crib home for the first few years of their life, and Steve knew his mother would have wanted him to use it for his own child. She was the type of person who preferred sentiment to novelty. So, while Steve and Danny could have gone out and bought some fancy new crib, the SEAL wouldn't have felt right about it knowing that there was a perfectly good one right in their own home.

He managed to maneuver the piece of furniture over to the hole in the floor. He looked down at Danny who was standing below, looking up at him.

"I just have one question, Babe," Danny said, holding up one finger.

"And that is?"

"How exactly do you plan on getting that thing down from there?"


	8. Little Surprises

**Author's note: **So I've had a really awful day and I thought, what better way to fix my mood than to spend some time with our two favorite guys? Wanna help me improve my mood more? Review! I still want to hear your opinions on whether we should have a baby girl or boy? Opinions are somewhat split so far.

_A baby is God's opinion that life should go on.~ Carl Sandburg_

* * *

"This is awkward," Steve declared quietly.

"Sorry," Casey winced sympathetically.

"It's not your fault. I just…feel like everybody's staring at me." He shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

"Steve, you're a good looking guy in a room full of hormonal woman. _Of course_ they're all looking at you." Casey smiled as she went back to flipping through her magazine.

Steve sighed and looked at the clock again.

They were in the waiting room of the Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children. Steve had gone with Casey to her doctor's appointment. Danny was supposed to come as well, but Rachel had called him at the last minute and said that she needed him to take Grace for the afternoon. Danny hadn't said what the reason was, but Steve had gotten the feeling that it wasn't a good one. So, Steve had had to accompany his sister-in-law on his own.

He'd felt out of place the moment he had walked through the door. All eyes had immediately fallen on him, and had remained on him as he and Casey sat down.

"You know, if you'd stop fidgeting you'd draw less attention to yourself. Although, I have to admit that it's kind of fun to see you squirm. I didn't think that there was anything that could rattle a super SEAL like you," Casey teased with a smirk.

Steve looked over at her. "God you're just like your brother." He snorted.

"Is that an insult or a compliment?" she asked, closing her magazine.

"Both," Steve replied.

"Casey Williams?" the nurse called from the door.

Casey tossed her magazine aside. "You might want to wait here for the first part," she suggested.

"But–"

"Trust me. You're not missing anything important. I'll send the nurse out for you when we get to the good part."

Casey patted Steve on the shoulder. He had a slightly panicked expression on his face as he realized she was leaving him alone in the waiting room with all those women.

Casey chuckled to herself under her breath. Poor guy. She didn't mean to torture him, but she knew it would be much less awkward for him out there then if he were in the room with her while the doctor did the initial exam.

"Is this your first?" The nurse asked as she started to take Casey's blood pressure. Casey nodded. "I can always tell the first time parents, especially the fathers. They look like a fish out of water when they come in here with their wives. I'll give your husband credit, he's handling thing better than most." The nurse rambled on. Casey gave her a bewildered look.

"My husband?" She asked before she started laughing. "You think that guy in the waiting room with me was my husband?" The nurse blushed in embarrassment. "That man is _not _my husband. He's my brother-in-law who is married to my _brother_." The nurse's eyes went wide and her blush turned a darker shade of red.

"I'm sorry I didn't realize. I just assumed since you were together…" She sputtered, trying to backtrack. Casey dismissed her with a wave.

"Don't worry about it. Besides, even if he wasn't married to my brother, Steve McGarrett is not my type. He should be my type. I mean, a tall dark handsome Navy SEAL who's fiercely loyal to those is loves and will do anything to protect and defend them? He's every woman's dream! Every woman but me apparently. Am I attracted to someone like him? No. I'm attracted to a sensitive artist type who treats me bad." Casey rambled to the nurse as she finished up the exam prep. "I'm sorry, I have a tendency to ramble when I'm nervous, especially to complete strangers. You don't need to know the details of how I ended up in this condition. You probably just want to get the hell away from this crazy chick." Casey admitted sheepishly. The nurse placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Trust me honey, I've heard worse." Casey smiled and laid down on the exam table as the nurse left the room. Left alone, she could finally let down the mask she had put on and took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. This was all about to become real. This baby really existed and they were all about to get the proof.

When Steve was eventually brought into the room, she was lying on the exam table with her shirt pulled up to just under her breasts.

"Okay Ms. Williams, this gel might be a little cold," the tech warned as she squirted the gel on her belly. It was the first time that Steve had noticed her baby bump.

A loud whirring noise filled the room as the tech moved the wand around her skin. The whirring was replaced by the steady thumping of a heartbeat as the wand stilled.

"There's your baby," she said. Then she shifted the screen so the two could see.

"Wow," Steve breathed. Suddenly, the whole situation was real as he looked at the tiny human on the screen. That was _his_ child. That little figure, small enough to fit in the palm of his hand, was going to become part of the center of his world. This life, just barely beginning, held all of Steve's hopes and wishes for the future in its tiny little heart. Steve looked down at Casey who was watching the screen in a slight panic.

"It's okay, kid," Steve said, resting a hand on her shoulder. "It's all going to be okay.

* * *

"Hey you two," Danny greeted Steve and Casey when they came through the door. Casey gave him a small wave before disappearing upstairs. Steve came and joined Danny and Grace at the table where they were working on homework. "How'd it go?"

"Good. They said she's about 12 weeks along and everything looks good. They also gave us this." Steve reached for his wallet and pulled out the sonogram picture that the ultrasound tech had given them. The smile on Danny's face grew as he looked at the grainy image.

"What is it Danno?" Grace asked, straining her neck to try to see. Danny reached over to pull her onto his lap.

"That, Monkey," he said, holding up the picture, "is your little brother or sister."

The little girl tilted her head as she looked at the image.

"Which one is it? A brother or a sister?"

"We don't know yet, Gracie," Steve said with a laugh. "The baby is very small inside Aunt Casey's belly so we can't tell yet."

The two men watched as Grace tried to process the information.

"Well, when can we find out?" she asked.

"We have to wait for the baby to get a little bigger before we can tell anything," Danny replied. "Why don't you go upstairs and tell your aunt about your field trip today?"

Grace held up a finger, "I have one more question."

"Yes, Monkey?"

"Why is Aunt Casey giving you and Steve her baby?" she asked, innocently.

Danny and Steve looked at each other. It was such an unassuming question that could only come out of the mouth of babes.

"Well, Gracie, remember when we talked adoption and how some mommies can't take care of their babies so they give them to mommies and daddies that do?" Steve started.

Grace nodded. "But _why _can't Aunt Casey take care of her baby?"

Danny sighed. How could he explain to his eight year old that her aunt was giving up her child because she knew she would be a failure as a mother?

"Having a baby is a very hard thing, Sweetheart. It takes a lot of time and money to take care of them, and some mommies – like your aunt, for example – realize that they don't have those things. So, they give the baby to people like Danno and I who do," Steve explained.

Grace seemed satisfied with this answer, and she turned and gave her father a hug.

"Love you Danno," she said. Then she jumped down off his lap and hurried over to her other father. "Love you Steve." Grace hugged him before disappearing upstairs.

Danny looked his partner with proud smile, "You handled that beautifully, Babe. You're going to be a great dad."

Steve blushed a little in response.

"Well, I've had some good examples to learn from," he replied, referring not only to his parents, but to Danny as well.

Danny picked the photograph back up and stared at it for a moment before speaking again.

"Do you want to know?" he asked, referring to the sex of the baby.

"Do you?" Steve responded.

"I asked you first," Danny pointed out.

Steve rolled his eyes.

"Not really," he answered honestly. "What about you?"

"Rachel insisted on knowing when she was pregnant with Grace. Insisted that she couldn't plan properly if she didn't know. Personally, I think there are few true surprises in life, and this is one of them."

Danny handed the photo back over to Steve who ran a finger over the image lightly.

_I can't wait to meet you little one, _he thought to himself. _I can't wait to see the little person you're going to turn out to be_.


	9. Tiny Bubbles

**Author's note: **Okay, first of all I'm sorry. Life has been kind of crazy these last few weeks and my muse decided to go on hiatus and leave me stranded for ideas. But I think she's back to stay for awhile now so hopefully I can get these next few chapters finished up. This is just a little bit of filler. We've moved ahead a little in time and Casey is now into her second trimester. Also, I will admit that I am a diehard Cubs fan which makes it very hard to write in favor of the Mets, plus it just kind of seems like something Casey would do. You'll understand when you read so get to it already! lol

* * *

"I'm confused." Casey declared.

"That could have something to do with the fact that you're sitting upside down." Steve said looking at his sister in law. Casey was sitting on the chair with her feet hanging over the back while her head hung down near the floor. "Why _are_ you sitting upside down?"

"It's a new method I'm trying to avoid having to pee every 10 minutes." She said, putting her hands under her swollen stomach.

Casey was now about five months along and her small baby bump had grown into quite a round little belly. "But I'm still confused. This game makes no sense." She complained.

"What are you confused about?" Steve asked. Casey had decided to try to learn the game of football since the guys were always watching it but she was having a hard time comprehending it all.

"Everything! This game is so messed up. Give me a Cubs game and I can hold my own against any guy in a bar but football seriously messes with my mind." Casey exclaimed.

"Cubs? I thought you guys were Mets fans." Steve asked, confused.

All he ever heard about during baseball season was Danny lament about his beloved Mets and how it was too bad that he couldn't take Steve to go see a game at Shea Stadium because corporate America had swooped in and invaded, building the ugly new Citi Field which could never be as good as the old stadium.

"No, my brother is a deranged Mets fan. I root for the Cubs." Casey clarified like it was an extremely important point.

"Ya and how does that work out?" Steve asked, amused. He didn't know much about baseball but considering how seriously Danny took it, he doubted that rooting against the family team went over very well.

"Not well. She only roots for them to be contrary." Danny explained as he entered the room. He gave his sister a look and then sat down on the couch next to his husband. "The Cubs and Mets have a bad history going back to 1969 when the Miracle Mets came from eight games back to win the division, stealing it away from the Cubs team who everyone thought was going to win the World Series."

"Bastards." Casey muttered under her breath.

"You weren't even born yet." Danny rolled his eyes.

"Neither were you but I had to listen to you and dad talk about over and over again so I felt like I lived it through it." Casey said as she maneuvered herself into an upright position. "And see, now I have to pee. This is ridiculous, this kid is barely a pound and yet my bladder is smashed. Absolutely ridiculous." She muttered as she hoisted herself up out of the chair and headed down the hall to the bathroom.

"So who was on the phone?" Steve asked turning his attention to his husband. Danny had gotten a call on his cell that he had quickly left the room to take. Danny took a quick look down the hall to make sure his sister was out of earshot before responding.

"That was my mother." He said, his voice a decibel lower than usual. "She was asking about the wedding and how things were going…..I told her about the baby." Danny admitted.

"You told your mother we're adopting your sister's baby?" Steve was a little stunned. That was a bold move that was almost sure to backfire on him.

"I left the part about it being Casey's out." Danny replied giving Steve one of his patented 'are-you-nuts?' looks. "I did let it slip though that she's here in Hawaii." The blonde winced a little.

He hadn't meant to give that detail out but there was a little part of him that was still upset over the fact that his parents had blown off his wedding. That little part of him couldn't resist sending a subtle jab at his mother by telling her that Casey had been there and that it was nice to at least have _some _of his family there.

"How'd your mother take that?" Steve asked with a curious smile.

"She acted as if I hadn't even brought it up." Danny ran a hand through his hair. "It bothers me, Steven. My family is broken. It's broken and I can't fix it. We were happy once upon a time but things have been dysfunctional for so long I can't even remember exactly how it got that way." Steve wrapped an arm around Danny's shoulder.

"Every family is dysfunctional in some way. Look at me and Mary." Steve said, trying to be comforting.

"Ya but you and Mary have managed to work on your relationship and make it better. I don't think Casey and my parents could ever get along again." Danny countered.

He couldn't even talk about all the other issues in the family like Matt's disappearance and the fact that it caused his mother to have a small breakdown. Or the fact that his father had become increasingly disinterested in the affairs of his children's lives since Casey had left home. Danny wasn't sure what that was all about and he was sure he didn't want to know because it would probably just be one more disappointment that he didn't want to deal with.

"You've always got your ohana here," Steve reminded with a kiss to the top of Danny's head. "Granted, it's also dysfunctional but we have a lot of love for each other." The smaller man smiled at the innocence in his partner's voice.

"Thank god for that." Danny leaned over and gave Steve a kiss.

"Aww, you two are so cute." Casey commented as she re-entered the room. Danny rolled his eyes as he pulled back from the kiss. He was about to bite back with remark but the words died on his lips when his sister stopped suddenly in front of them with a strange look on her face.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

Casey said nothing, just reached down and grabbed Steve's hand, placing it on the side of her stomach. Steve looked bewildered for a second before he felt the slightest movement against his palm.

"Is that…" He asked, eyes wide.

"Ya, I just started noticing within this last week that the baby's starting to move around. It's not very much but it's starting to happen more often." Casey confirmed.

As if in response, Steve felt another small push against his hand. He pulled Danny's hand up to where his was and a smile spread across the blonde man's face.

"That is still one of the weirdest experiences ever." Danny admitted.

"_You_ think it's weird? Imagine feeling it from the inside." Casey pointed out.

The first time she had felt the baby move around it had freaked her out. It was a sensation that she couldn't quite explain and it took awhile to wrap her head around the fact that it was another human being moving around inside of her. Steve kept his hand in place until the small movements had stopped. He looked at his hand as he pulled it back. That was the most real contact he had had with his child and it left him wanting more.

"You know they say that babies can understand and recognize sounds in the womb. Most babies can recognize their mother's voice right after birth because they hear it all the time. They also say that babies can hear music. You should put headphone on your belly-" Danny informed.

"I already have." Casey replied. "I play music for the baby every night before I go to sleep."

"What do you play?"

"I don't know. I put my iPod on shuffle and let it go." She shrugged.

"Great, our kid's going to come out of the womb loving Springsteen and alternative rock." Steve joked.

"What's wrong with Springsteen? It's better than your disco crap." Danny countered.

"Not all of that stuff was crap." Steve defended. Danny just looked at him, blinking a few times before turning his attention to his sister, not bothering to dignify the comment with a response.

"You should get some get some of those Baby Einstein tapes to play." Danny suggested.

"That stuff doesn't actually work, Danny. Mom and Dad didn't do that for me and look how I turned out." Casey replied.

"You really want to use yourself as an example?" Danny said, raising an eyebrow.

"I hate you." Casey responded with a smile. "And just for that comment I am going to go download Don Ho CDs onto my iPod and play them on a continuous loop for this kid." Casey threatened.

"You wouldn't." Danny growled.

"I always liked that 'Tiny Bubbles' song. It's kind of catchy." Casey smiled as she started to leave the room. Danny looked at Steve who was smiling smugly.

"Did I ever tell you how much I like your sister?"


	10. Baby Daddy

**A/N: **So I know there's not a lot of Steve and Danny interaction but some of you have been asking about the baby's father and so I felt it was time to bring him in and address some issues with him. He's not a huge character but I felt he needed to make an appearance. Also, parenting classes aren't mandatory for adoptions but I felt it was something that they would do, plus there was a part with Steve and the diaper that just would not leave me alone. Read and find out what I'm talking about.

* * *

"Steve, can you please roll down the windows?" Casey asked desperately from the back of the car.

"Why? What's wrong?" Steve asked, sensing the urgency in his sister-in-law's voice as he pressed the button for the automatic windows.

"Nothing. I just needed some fresh air before I threw up all over the back seat." She informed as she took a deep breath. "Which one of you is wearing cologne?"

"I never wear it." Steve replied. He had been trained in the SEALs never to use anything that could be used to track him with. He looked over at Danny.

"I have been wearing this cologne the whole time you've been here and it's never bothered you before." Danny said in an almost whining tone.

"Ya well it's making me sick to my stomach now so unless you want me to vomit on you, I would suggest keeping your distance." Casey warned.

Her morning sickness had yet to dissipate even though she was now into her second trimester. There was little predictability as to when the nausea would hit her or what would trigger it. Something she craved one day would make her sick the next and it was starting to grate on her nerves.

The three of them were on their way to a parenting class at the adoption agency. Their case worker had suggested that they attend since Steve was a first time father and it had been close to ten years since Danny had cared for an infant.

"I still don't understand why I have to go to this class." Casey complained from the backseat. "It's not like I'm going to be one of the parents."

"No, but you will be around after the baby is born so you do need to know these things." Danny reminded.

"I did babysit in high school, Danny. I even watched Grace when she was a baby. I think I know how to warm up a bottle and change a diaper." She pointed out. Danny put a hand to his forehead.

"Will you do me a favor and just do this without complaint? Please, for me?" Danny pleaded. He wasn't exactly thrilled about having to do this either but knew it was a good idea to refresh his skills.

Danny had a feeling he knew what Casey's resistance was really about. He had noticed that as soon as his sister had started showing she started having a hard time participating in anything that involved the baby. He figured it was some kind of phase that she was going through and she would eventually work her way through it. But as more time had gone on, Casey's denial had only grown and it worried Danny. He wanted her to still feel like this baby was hers even if she wasn't going to be raising him or her.

When the three had arrived at the agency and walked into classroom, Casey immediately tried to bolt.

"Not so fast." Danny said grabbing her arms.

"Danny, I'm the only birthmother here!" She hissed. "This is clearly for the adoptive parents. I don't belong here." She tried to reason. Danny wasn't buying it.

"What, you think they're going to judge you?" Danny asked sarcastically. "They all are dealing with someone just like you so just relax." He said, leading her towards an empty table. She sat down and crossed her arms like a petulant child as the teacher began. Her frown eventually turned to a smile as she watched her brother-in-law try to diaper the baby doll.

"Now don't pull too hard." Danny warned as Steve reached for the sticky tab on the diaper. The warning came too late as Steve pulled the tab completely off the diaper. Danny rolled his eyes. "It's not a pin on a hand grenade, Rambo. You have to be gentle with it." Steve tossed the sticky piece down on the table.

"This should not be that difficult." He complained.

"If you think this is tough, try doing it on a real baby." Danny replied with a smirk.

"What do you mean?" Steve asked, confused and slightly pissed at the 'I-know-something-you-don't' look on Danny's face.

"This baby is lying completely still. Real babies don't do that. Real babies squirm and wiggle and kick which moves the diaper around making it much more difficult to actually get the thing on. And if it's a boy you have the added difficulty of making sure you keep him covered with the diaper or else risk getting peed on." Danny explained.

After a few more attempts, Steve was able to successfully diaper the baby doll. Casey clapped a little for him and Danny smiled proudly.

"See, you'll be able to do it one handed in no time because trust me, you'll have plenty of practice at it."

After diapering, they moved onto dressing the baby which Danny explained is also a lot easier to do on a doll than a real baby and then onto feeding the baby. Casey couldn't resist snapping off a picture on her phone of Steve cradling the baby doll in his arm while pretending to feed it.

"That one's going to Mary." Casey said laughing as Steve glared at her. The SEAL had just handed off the doll to Casey when he saw their case worker enter the room.

"Hey Carrie." Danny acknowledged as the woman stopped at their table.

"Hey guys, I'm glad I caught you here." She smiled.

"What's up?" Danny asked.

"I had something I needed to talk to you-well really Casey-about." Carrie started. "Forgive me for being blunt about this but, do you know who the baby's father is?" The smile that had been on Casey's face quickly faded as she straightened herself up in the chair and nodded. "Good, because we're going to have to notify him so we can get him to sign the papers to terminate his paternal rights and the sooner we can get on that the better. Do you have any contact information for him?"

"I don't know if it's still current." Casey admitted.

"Well, we still have a little bit of time but it's really best if we notify him before the baby is born so that when it comes time to finalize everything we have all the paperwork in order." Carrie explained.

"I'll get the information." Casey promised. The case worker smiled again.

"Wonderful. Well, good luck with the rest of your class and I'll see you guys at the home study next month." Carrie said before leaving the three alone again.

As they finished up the last part of the class, the two men could see that the Casey had retreated into herself as she watched them with a thousand yard stare. She reminded quiet on the car ride home, her attention focused on her cell phone that had become glued to her hand. Casey had gone straight to her bedroom when they got back to the house and they had decided to give her a little bit of space before confronting her on the subject.

Danny didn't know many of the details surrounding his Casey's relationship with the baby's father but what he did know angered him. Micah treated his sister like trash which was unacceptable to the detective but his attempts to try to intervene in the past had not been well received. So he had backed off against his better judgment, hoping that someday his sister would see the man for what he really was. Danny was pretty sure Casey had finally reached that point and he was afraid that having her get back in contact with Micah was only going to confuse her about her feelings.

"Danny if you press the channel button any harder you're going to break it." Steve warned, reaching over to take the device from him. "Go upstairs and talk to your sister before you break the remote."

"What if she talks to him and he convinces her to keep the baby?" Danny suddenly blurted out. Steve looked at him with eyes that told him he was trying to suppress those same thoughts.

"Go talk to your sister." Steve encouraged, his tone softer this time. Danny rose from the couch and slowly made his way up the stairs and down the hall to the room his sister was staying in.

"Knock knock." He said, announcing his presence.

Casey looked up from where she was lying on the bed. Her laptop was open and resting against her belly. Her cell phone was tossed down by her feet and her cheeks had dried tear stains on them.

"What are you doing?" Danny asked as he came in and sat down on her bed.

"Looking at airplane tickets." Casey responded, not looking up from her laptop.

"Why?" Danny asked, trying to hide the sudden panic in his voice.

"Because I need to go to L.A.. Micah is there doing a press tour for his new album. I'm going to go find him and get him to sign the papers to terminate his rights." Casey explained. Danny sighed heavily, his panic subsiding slightly.

"No, Casey. You're not going." He declared.

"What are you, my father?" She said as she looked up and glared at him. "Because you of all people should know I don't listen to my father. I'm an adult, Danny. I can do whatever I want." She snapped.

"I understand that and that is why, as your brother and the soon-to-be-adoptive-father of your child, I am requesting that you do not do this because you're not doing this for the right reason." Danny explained patiently.

"What are you talking about? I told you-"

"Ya I know what you told me. But that's not the real reason you want to go, or at least not the whole reason. You forget that I am not only a detective but your big brother. I know your moods and your reaction to things. If you just wanted him to sign the papers you would give his info to the agency to contact him so you wouldn't have to deal with him. But if you're purposely going looking for him it means you want to confront him about something. So what is it?" Danny informed. He watched the way his little sister's jaw clenched as she tried to fight back more tears and something burned down in his stomach.

"He cheated on me Danny and not just that…he didn't cheat on me with someone else… _I _was the someone else. He's apparently been with some actress chick for almost two years. Meaning he was with her while he was with me. It explains so much. Why he never wanted me to come out on the road with him, why he only wanted me around when he was writing…I feel so stupid." Casey admitted.

She didn't want to cry about the situation and if she had been able to control her emotions she probably would have been able to keep the tears away but with raging hormones it was a losing battle and a few tears slipped down her cheek.

"He hurt you and so now you want to go hurt him." Danny stated.

The burning in his stomach increased as he looked at Casey. For a brief second he didn't see his sister but instead saw the innocent face of his precious Grace and his fist clenched subconsciously as he thought of beating in Micah's face.

"You don't want to go to get Micah to sign the papers; you want to go so you can confront him and maybe even his girlfriend. You want revenge and that's why I don't want you to go." He explained.

"So I'm just supposed to take it? I'm just supposed to pretend that it was okay for him to lie to me and use me?" Casey asked indignantly.

"Look, I don't like what he did to you anymore than you do. I would like nothing more than to use his face as a punching bag and then let Steve have a free pass on him, but right now this is not a good idea. You are 6 months pregnant and I do not want anything to happen to you or the baby. Do you understand what I'm saying?" Casey closed her laptop and tossed it aside.

"Ya," she nodded. "And it sucks."

"I know it does. But we'll deal with it when the time comes-all of us, together." Danny pointed out. "Promise me you won't try to run off behind my back?"

"Why don't you ever trust me?" Casey accused.

"I do trust you. I just want some assurance to back up that trust." He replied. Danny knew that when it came to Micah, Casey had a tendency to lie to him.

"I promise I won't go." She said with a hand over her heart as she rolled her eyes.

"I'm serious, Casey. I'll put you on a no-fly list if I have to. But you cannot go to LA." Danny said, making sure he got his point across.

"You know, I seriously wouldn't put that past you to do that, _which is why I promise not to go_." Casey repeated, looking Danny dead in the eye. He saw no signs of dishonesty in her eyes.

"Good," He patted her leg and stood. He started to leave the room before turning back towards her. "Did you talk to him?" He gestured towards her phone. Casey frowned.

"I wanted to. I wanted to rip him a new one for what he did to me, but he didn't answer. I didn't leave a message." She admitted.

She had wanted to leave him a scathing voicemail wishing him every personal harm she could think of. But crying really takes away the bite out of angry words, so she had simply hung up, leaving the words unsaid until she could actually talk to him.

"Good, don't talk to him just yet. Give yourself time to process it all before you go after him." Danny suggested. He waited for her to nod before leaving the room.

Danny would have liked to have said that his warning to his sister was sincere and unselfish but the truth was he had this irrational fear that if she talked to Micah, that somehow the man would find a way to ruin everything.


	11. Name Game

**A/N: **Okay so I can't remember if the show has ever said what Steve's mother's name is. If they have I can't remember and I can't find it so I just made up my own (thank you creative licensing). And so far the opinions have been pretty spilt as to whether they should have a boy or a girl so it looks like it's going to be up to me to decide. Also, I have no idea why I decided to have both of their mother's names start with an M but that's just the way that it worked out.

"What about yellow?" Steve suggested, holding up the yellow paint swatch.

He, Danny and Casey were trying to decide on a paint color for the nursery. They had their first home study with the adoption agency next month. They wanted to have the room done by then and currently it was far from complete.

"I don't like yellow." Danny replied stubbornly, crossing his arms over his chest.

"How do you not like the color yellow? It's such a happy color." Steve said, giving Danny an odd look.

"I don't like it. It reminds me of pineapples." Danny said deadpanned. Steve rolled his eyes and tossed his hands up. Some arguments just weren't worth fighting.

"Why don't we just leave the room blue? There's no law saying that a girl can't have a blue room." Steve proposed.

The room had been painted a dark blue when he was 11 years old after he begged his father to cover up the baby blue that had been there. The light color was just too babyish for a boy his age, he had thought at the time. He found it somewhat ironic how it was now being reverted back into a baby's room.

"Ya but if you have a girl and her room is blue she may think that you really wanted a boy and she'll grow up feeling inadequate." Casey explained, arching her back as she sat against the wall on the floor. Danny looked down at her.

"Your bedroom was pink." He reminded.

"And yet the sentiment was the same." She pointed out.

"Okay fine ,we'll stick to gender neutral colors." The oldest Williams conceded. "What about this one?" Danny held up a swatch with a minty green color.

"That could work." Steve replied, tilting his head. It was soft enough for a baby's room but still reflected their masculine input.

"It's a good base color." Casey agreed. "Once you know you can bring in supporting colors based upon the gender-pink or purple for a girl, brown or blue for a boy."

"Green it is then." Danny declared, taping the swatch to the wall.

The two men had cleared most of the furniture save for a dresser and an old toy chest of Steve's. The old Winnie the Pooh beat sat atop the dresser. The crib was currently in the garage. Steve had stripped all the old paint off and had sanded down the rough wood. There were a couple of bars that needed to be replaced and it needed a new coat of paint (or stain but that was a whole other debate). There were a few other pieces of furniture (changing table, rocking chair, etc) that needed to be obtained but they both agreed that the room needed to be painted before they moved all the pieces in.

"So have you guys started thinking about any names yet?" Casey asked, stretching out her legs.

She was now over seven months pregnant and the heat and humidity did nothing to help with the swelling in her legs and feet or the pounding in her head. The doctor had been watching the swelling along with her blood pressure and didn't like what he was seeing. She had been put on bed rest to ensure that she didn't develop preeclampsia and all of the sitting around was wreaking havoc on her back.

"Well if it's a girl we agreed that we want something starting with the letter 'M' in honor of Steve's mother." Danny explained.

The two men had been discussing names for awhile and that was the only thing they had been able to agree on. Danny had suggested that if the baby was girl that they could name her after Steve's mother, Melinda McGarrett, as a way to honor her memory. Steve was touched by the gesture but wasn't sure he wanted this baby to carry her entire name. So they had come up with the compromise of using the first initial of her name instead. It also worked out well since Danny's mother's name also started with an 'M".

All of these preparations for the baby had gotten him thinking about his mother a lot. She would have loved a grandchild. She would have fussed over Steve and Danny as parents and spoiled the kid rotten. Steve would have liked to have his mother around too. This whole parenting thing freaked him out at times. It was one thing to act like a parent to Grace who wasn't actually his but another thing entirely to be solely responsible for a child. He could do all the training that he wanted but babies-like suspects-are unpredictable. The only thing that kept him from feeling completely overwhelmed was the fact that Danny had already done this once before and considering how Grace was turning out, he was pretty damn good at it.

"Well you better make sure you explain that Margaret Williams because you know she'll think its about her." Casey said with a smile and a look at her brother, letting him know that she hadn't missed the fact that he had purposely not mentioned their mother. "So do you have any specific 'M' names picked out?"

"That's where the agreeing stops." Steve confessed. Danny tended to be more in favor of the traditional sounding names while Steve liked ones that were more native to the island.

"Well what if it's a boy?"

"That's a long list that has yet to be narrowed down." Danny replied.

He had also proposed naming the baby after Steve's father but Steve had turned him down claiming that he was already carrying his father's name as his middle name. So they had begun constructing a list that was currently about a page long.

"Any suggestions?" Steve asked. Casey shrugged as she started to get up off the floor.

"I've never really thought about it before but I kind of like the name Caleb for a boy." Steve and Danny looked at each other. Caleb was high on their list of boy's names.

Steve reached out a hand to help Casey up from her position on the floor. She had barely gotten herself on to her feet when her knees buckled under her and she headed right back for the floor. Steve, who hadn't taken more than two steps away from her, quickly reached out and grabbed her before she made any impact.

"Casey, are you okay?" Danny asked urgently as he rushed over to them. Casey eyes were unfocused as she tried to look at him.

"I don't feel so good." She admitted, her voice not sounding quite right. Steve lowered her down gently so she could lie on the floor.

"Steve, call an ambulance." Danny commanded as Steve was already pulling out his cell phone. All Danny could do was watch helplessly as Casey's eyes glazed over before rolling back into her head.


	12. Be Prepared

**A/N: **Okay so i know this is on the shorter side but i wanted to get a little something out (i've hit a bit of a wall and i'm trying to work through it) plus we haven't had any fluffy Steve/Danny stuff lately so i thought now would be a nice time. We're getting closer to the arrivial of baby! Last chance to cast your votes for boy or girl lol.

* * *

Steve couldn't sleep.

The adrenaline rush that he had been running on for the majority of the day had worn off, leaving him physically exhausted but his mind would not shut off. A million different thoughts and feelings were running through his brain but he didn't have the first clue as to where to start to sort them all out.

They had spent most of the day at the hospital with Casey making sure that everything was alright with her and the baby. The doctors had been worried about her blood pressure since they had been watching her for signs of preeclampsia but after a few tests they determined that while her blood pressure was still a little high for their liking, it was just probably a combination of the heat and standing up too fast that had caused her to faint. They had hooked her up to a fetal heart rate monitor for a few hours and performed an ultrasound to make sure the baby was doing alright before giving her to okay to leave.

She had been discharged under strict instructions that she was to remain on total bed rest for the remainder of her pregnancy since there was still a high risk of developing preeclampsia. It had really been just a minor scare but the whole thing had really gotten to Steve.

He wasn't good in those kinds of situations. He and Danny had been told when she was first admitted that it was a 'wait and see' kind of situation. Steve didn't do 'wait and see'. He wasn't the type to sit around patiently and hold hands. He was a man of action. So he was happy to get back to the house where there was still plenty of work to be done. Danny found him in the garage, working on the crib which he had finished sanding and was currently priming with a coat of paint.

"Babe, what are you doing?" Danny asked, his voice weary.

"How's Casey?" Steve asked, ignoring his husband's question with one of his own.

"She's okay. She just fell asleep." Danny shrugged.

"Good. That's good." Steve nodded as he continued to paint.

"Yes, it is good. It means that everything is fine…so why are you painting the crib at ten o'clock at night?"

"Because it needs to get done and I want to be prepared just in case." Steve shrugged, avoiding Danny's eyes. Danny sighed and ran a hand over his face.

"Stop, just stop." He ordered.

"Stop what?" Steve asked in confusion.

"Stop thinking. You and Casey both are obsessing over 'what ifs' and worst case scenarios instead of focusing on the facts right now. I just spent the last hour assuring my sister that one little fainting spell does not mean that she had somehow screwed up and ruined everything and now I find you preparing for the baby that's not coming for another two months like it's coming in the next two days." Danny rubbed at his temple to try to stave off the impending headache.

"I'm tired of being unprepared." Steve stated, bring his eyes up to meet Danny's. There was something in them that was almost unreadable at first and then realization set in for the blonde.

Steve was freaked out. Something could have happened to their child and now he couldn't shake that bad feeling off. Danny knew it well. He had spent the first two years of Grace's life feeling that way. But this freak out went deeper for the SEAL and Danny knew it. The gods were cruel to Steve McGarrett. They had a tendency to just suddenly rip people away from him with no warning—no time to prepare.

So when there was that momentary panic that something had happened to the baby, Steve's brain immediately went to the feeling of losing his parents all over again, only this time it was worse. He was tortured thinking he had lost something before he even got the chance to experience it. Danny thought his husband's brain really sucked sometimes.

"Steve, I promise that everything is okay now. If something were really wrong, the doctors wouldn't have let Casey come home. I know your brain has a hard time comprehending this but bad things aren't always going to happen to you. I know you went through a lot before but those things are in the past, alright?" Danny tried to explain. It took a minute but eventually the panic and fear faded from Steve's eyes and the tension left his shoulders. "You've got me now babe. I'm a good luck charm. What bad things have happened since you met me?" Danny asked not really expecting an answer but received one anyways.

"I got sent to war, was almost blown up in a roadside bombing and had my arm almost torn off," Steve listed off nonchalantly. "But other than that, ya you're good luck, babe." He winked.

"Those things had nothing to do with me. Blame your stupid army, I know I do." Danny growled but it held little malice. Steve was joking around and Danny wasn't about to ruin the good mood he's just worked to reestablish. Steve sighed.

"It's the Navy Danno, the _Navy_."


	13. Surprise

**A/N: **Okay so you guys have made it really hard on the whole boy v. girl thing. This is going to come down to the wire here because right now I'm not even hundred percent sure I know what it's going to be through I am leaning one way. All of the items described in this chapter do actually exist. Ah the wonders of Google lol.

* * *

"I'm tired of being pregnant." Casey declared as she arched her back and shifted in her chair.

"Be thankful you're not an elephant. Their pregnancies last like almost two years." Mary pointed out. Casey cringed.

"Oh god," she moaned. "I can't imagine how awful that would be. I don't know what I'll do if this kid is late if for no other reason than I don't know how much longer I can handle lying in bed all day. I'm going to need some serious chiropractic work after this kid is born because my back is trashed."

Casey shifted again to try to relieve the pain in her back and then rubbed her hands over her large belly. The last six weeks hadn't been easy on her. She had been forced into complete bed rest which consisted of lying on her side all day and only being allowed to get up to use the bathroom and walk around for short periods of time. Steve and Danny were trying to be helpful and cater to her but Casey was beginning to feel a little smothered by the attention. She was used to being independent and taking care of herself, so to have someone helping her with even the simplest tasks bothered her. Mary smirked as she looked at her sister-in-law and reached for another role of streamers.

The two women were working on decorating the lanai for the surprise baby shower that they-along with Chin, Kono and Rachel-were throwing for Steve and Danny. The two men had talked about having a shower after the baby was born with the idea being that it would make things easier because then they would know the sex of the baby but Casey and the others agreed that the whole point of a baby shower was to give the parents the things they needed to prepare for the baby like clothes and equipment so waiting until after the baby was born wouldn't be very practical.

Casey had worked with Grace and Rachel to come up with an excuse to get Steve and Danny out of the house. Rachel had called that morning and said that something came up and she had to fly to the big island for the day and she needed them to take Grace for the day. Grace had then informed them that she had some assignment for school that required a trip into Waikiki. The plan was then for Grace to text Casey when they were on their way back so they could have enough time to get everything set up and in place.

Kono and Chin had agreed to be responsible for the food and Rachel had agreed to bring the cake. It had taken a bit of soul searching on Casey's behalf to be able to have civil if not pleasant conversation with her former sister-in-law. She had held onto a lot of resentment towards her after she and Danny had divorced. She had only seen her brother's side of the story and didn't understand what Rachel had thought or gone through. But after seeing how supportive she was of Steve and Danny's relationship, Casey began to think that maybe she had been a little too hard on the British woman.

Mary had just tacked up the last of the streamers when she and Casey heard a commotion coming from the front of the house. They froze for a moment until they heard sound of the two cousins' voices.

"Anybody home?" Chin called out.

"Out here." They called out. The cousins suddenly appeared through the lanai doors, their arms filled with trays and bags.

"Holy cow guys." Mary whistled at the sight of the amount of food that had been brought. "There are only eight of us. It looks like you guys brought enough to feed the entire pacific fleet."

"Well, Casey's eating for two and Steve and Danny act like they're eating for two so we wanted to be prepared." Kono explained as she began to set stuff up.

"If you think that's insane, you should see the trunk of my car. Someone went a little crazy at the baby store." Chin said, giving his cousin a look.

"They had really cute stuff. And it's not like those two can be trusted fashion wise." Kono defended. Chin just looked at her as he disappeared into the house again.

"It's not just fashion. They lost their interior decorating privileges too when Steve started talking about putting camouflage up in the nursery." Casey stated.

"What about if it's a girl?" Mary asked.

"That didn't seem to matter." Casey shrugged. Mary rolled her eyes. It sounded just like her brother.

"So what did you guys end up choosing?" Kono asked.

"I choose a Winnie the Pooh theme. That way it's good for a boy or girl and its way better than Danny's suggestion of doing a frog theme."

"Frogs?" Kono raised an eyebrow.

"We painted the nursery green because it's a good gender neutral color and so Danny thought we should do a frog theme and then started humming 'It's Not Easy Being Green'. Thankfully Steve smacked him before he could go any further." Casey explained shaking her head. Sometimes her brother was just too much to handle.

The front door opened again and this time Chin returned with Rachel in tow. Mary helped Casey out of her chair so that she could look at the cake that Rachel had brought. It had mint green icing to match their theme with a pacifier and bottle on it and read "Welcome Baby Williams-McGarrett" in white lettering.

"I wasn't sure what to have them write on the cake." Rachel commented. Casey could tell that Rachel was feeling a little uneasy around her (their relationship was still far from perfect) so she place a hand on her arm and smiled.

"It's perfect." Rachel smiled and Casey could see some of the tension leave her. Casey's cell phone chirped with a text message from Grace. "They're coming up the street." She announced. The five of them quickly hurried to finish up and had just gotten themselves into position when they heard the Camaro pull in and then the sound of Steve, Danny and Grace coming into the house.

"Hey Case, we're home…where are you?" Danny called out.

"I'm out here." She called back, smirking at the others.

"What are you going out on the lanai? You're supposed to be in-" Danny stopped suddenly causing Steve to run into the back of him as they stood in the doorway from the house to the lanai.

"Surprise!" Everybody yelled. Danny and Steve looked at each other and then at the group and then back at each other before finally settling on Grace who was standing by her aunt, smiling innocently.

"Were you in on this?" Danny asked, leaving the doorway. Grace nodded. "You little sneak. You tricked us." Her father accused with little malice in his voice. Danny then looked up and seemed to notice for the first time that his ex was part of the group. "You-" He pointed at Rachel. "You said you had to go to the big island. You were in on it too." Rachel gave him a half amused smile.

"Daniel, can you please get over the fact that your friends and family pulled one over on you and be grateful for what they've done?" She asked.

"So wait, where you in on this too?" Steve asked, pointing to Casey. She nodded. "Why is the pregnant woman throwing her own baby shower?" He pondered aloud.

"It's not _my_ baby shower. It's _your _baby shower. You guys are the ones who are going to be using all this stuff, not me." Casey corrected. "Now get your butts over here and enjoy it. We went to a lot of trouble to pull this off."

Danny and Steve, finally getting over their initial surprise, came and joined the rest of the group as plates of food began to be passed around. When lunch had been finished and cleaned up, Kono and Mary had announced that it was time for gifts. Kono had given them a bag full of baby bibs with sayings on them like 'My Daddy is Stronger Than Your Daddy' and 'If You Think I'm Cute You Should See My Aunt' as well as another bag full of onesies and bodysuits for newborns all the way up to six months old. Chin, ever the practical one, had given them a baby bjorn carrier, a diaper disposal canister and a massive pack of diapers and baby wipes. Mary had gotten them a car seat that had big green and yellow polka dots on it and fit into the matching stroller. Casey though was sure that Rachel had the best gift of all. She had given Steve and Danny the rocking chair that she and Danny had used in Grace's nursery. Danny had spent many nights in that chair simply holding Grace after a particularly bad day at work and since she wasn't planning on having anymore children she claimed that it was only right that Steve and Danny have the rocking chair.

"It's perfect. My crib, your rocking chair…it goes with the something borrowed, something blue, something old, something new." Steve pointed out.

"Steve, that's for brides not babies." Casey corrected, patting her brother-in-law's leg. Her gift had been left for last.

"Why are you giving us anything anyways? You're already giving us the best gift ever." Danny questioned.

"It's nothing huge so just shut up and open it." Casey demanded. It was a box full of specialized onesies that she had found on the internet.

"My Daddy Wears Combat Boots." Danny read as he pulled one out of the box. Steve started laughing. "Navy Brat…Shh I'm on Crib Recon…really? You really had to do this to me?" Danny looked at his sister.

"Keep going, there's ones in there for you too." Danny dug down a little and found what she was talking about.

"You're really funny." He said dryly as he picked out the onesies that had a tie imprinted on the front of it. Casey managed to keep a straight face while everybody else laughed.

"I had to do it. It was too good of an opportunity to pass up." She admitted. Danny just glared at her.

After all the gifts were opened and the cake was cut, Kono and Chin had left so it was just the Williams and McGarrett clans sitting out on the lanai. As the sun began to slowly set, Danny looked over at his sister who was sitting next to him.

"We should get you back up to bed. You've been up and moving around all day." He suggested. Casey sighed.

"Ya you're probably right." She tried to shift herself in the chair so that she could proper up to stand but the pain in her back halted her attempt.

"Having problems there?" Danny asked as he stood and held out his hands to her to help her up.

"Hey, you try carrying around a twenty pound bowling ball under your shirt and see how easy it is to move around." Casey retorted as she shuffled towards the house. She had just disappeared into the house when they heard a groan, a curse and a rattling of the kitchen chairs.

"Casey, are you okay?" Steve called out, immediately jumping to his feet.

"No." She responded.

Danny and Steve quickly hurried inside where they found her gripping the chair tightly as she stood in a pink tinged puddle. Casey looked down at her skirt that was now clinging to her wet legs and then back up at the two men with wide eyes.

"I think my water just broke."


	14. An 8lb Life Changing Miracle

**A/N: **Okay so I really battled back and forth in my mind as to whether or not it should be a boy or a girl and I appreciate everybody's input on what they thought and I literally had to start writing out some of the further scenes to see what felt right and then made my decision. I hope everyone is happy with the ultimate choice. Also, things have been going just a little too happy for everybody involved so it decided that it was time to add some drama with a capital D. Don't hate me please!

_Lighting crashes, a new mother cries, her placenta falls to the floor. The angel opens her eyes, the confusion sets in before the doctor can even close the door-Live, Lighting Crashes_

* * *

Time had seemingly stopped as Steve, Danny and Casey stood in the kitchen, eyes traveling between each other and the puddle spreading across the floor. It wasn't until Rachel entered the room that reality set back in.

"Danny is everything al-" Rachel stopped suddenly, noticing what had the three so stunned. "Oh." She stated, hurrying over to Casey's side. "Here, sit down. Are you having any contractions?"

Casey shook her head as she allowed Rachel to guide her to a chair. The older woman could see the fear and panic written clearly across the younger woman's face. She encouraged her to take slow deep breaths knowing the last thing they needed was for her to hyperventilate, before turning to her ex and his new spouse.

"You need to get her to the hospital." Rachel ordered. The order seemed to spur the men into action. Steve went for the car keys when Rachel stopped him. "Take my car. Neither of yours are suitable for transporting a woman in labor."

Rachel made to move to go for her purse when Casey reached out and stopped her. Her eyes were still wide with panic and Rachel could see the face of her own little girl staring back at her.

"You're not coming with me?" Casey was freaked out and she wanted someone with her that had been through this before. She wanted something there to reassure her that everything was okay and what was happening was completely normal.

"I'll stay with you if you'd like." Rachel agreed using her best motherly smile. It seemed to calm Casey down some. "Do you have a bag ready?" Casey shook her head. "It's okay. Danny, why don't you go ask Mary if she can put together a bag quickly?" Rachel spoke to her ex but never took her eyes off of Casey. Danny disappeared onto the lanai and returned with Mary in tow.

"Well I guess you don't have to worry about the baby being late." Mary joked as she passed through the kitchen. She gave her friend's shoulder a squeeze as she hurried past.

Rachel then told Danny to go bring the car around while she and Steve helped Casey outside. They had made it about half way through the living room before a contraction hit and Casey's legs crumpled from underneath her. Steve quickly grabbed her and attempted to hold her up right while Rachel encouraged her to keep breathing.

"I'm not moving." Casey said, breathing heavily through her nose.

"It's alright, just keep breathing through it. We'll try again once this contraction passes." Rachel said, her words slow and calming.

"Mommy? Steve? Is Aunt Casey okay?" Grace asked, having wandering in from the lanai.

"She's fine, darling. The baby is coming so we have to take her to the hospital." Rachel explained.

"Can I come with?"

"No, Grace. I need you to stay here with your Aunt Mary. You can come to the hospital later once your new brother or sister is born." Rachel stated. It seemed to satisfy Grace who ran over to give her Aunt a kiss on the cheek.

"Good luck. I love you." She whispered.

"Thank you Gracie." Casey smiled. Then she looked up at Steve and Rachel. "I think I'm good now."

The two reached down carefully and with hands placed under her armpits they lifted her back up onto her feet as Mary hurried back down the stairs with a packed bag and met them at the door with it.

"Call me as soon as my niece or nephew is born." She demanded, placing a hand on Grace's shoulder as they stood in the doorway watching as Danny and Steve helped Casey into the back seat while Rachel got into the driver's seat.

As the car sped away, Mary looked down at her niece.

"You ready to be a big sister?" Grace nodded enthusiastically. "Good…because Steve and Danno are going to need all the help they can get."

* * *

"Just breathe, Ms. Williams." One of the nurses' coached while she was checking on hers and the baby's vital signs.

It had been over four hours since Casey had been admitted up to the labor and delivery ward and she had been having contractions almost none stop since the one at the house that had brought her to her knees. The labor was progressing slowly so Danny had left to take Rachel back to the house so she could get Grace and take her home. This left Steve alone with his suffering sister-in-law.

"Breathe? You try breathing while someone is trying to rip you apart from the inside out." Casey snapped back at her, writhing on her side in obvious pain. She had vocalizing her agony since she had arrived but the medical staff seemed not to take notice.

"Is she supposed to be in this much pain?" Steve asked. He knew that childbirth hurt _a lot _but somehow he didn't think that his sister-in-law was supposed to be in this much pain.

"Every woman has a different tolerance for pain." The nurse informed, unfazed by her patient's outburst.

"I'm not a wimp. I'm in pain damn it!" Casey yelled before burying her face in her pillow to muffle another cry of pain.

"Can't you give her something?" Steve was trying to remain calm but the more Casey seemed to suffer the more impatient he became.

"We can't give her an epidural until she's five centimeters dilated and right now she's only at a three. So until then there's really nothing that we can do." The nurse explained. "Your blood pressure is a little high Ms. Williams. I want you to try to relax as much as possible."

"You are a piece of work you, know that?" Casey snarled at her. "How the hell am I supposed to relax when it feels like this kid is trying to rip its way out through my stomach Alien-style?"

"Just keep breathing." Steve said, offering her his hand to squeeze.

He knew it sounded pathetic but he wasn't sure what else he could say. Somewhere in the back of his mind his old SEAL training started to creep through and he remembered from his very limited medical training that when dealing with a soldier in the field who was suffering a life threatening injury that it was best to offer them comfort and get their mind distracted on something other than the pain. Scooting his chair closer to the bed, Steve took Casey's hand in both of his and began to speak slowly.

"I want you to close your eyes for me." He commanded. Casey gave him a doubting look but he insisted so she rolled her eyes before complying. "Now I want you to think of a place that makes you feel safe and loved, somewhere that nothing can go wrong and makes you happy. Do you have that place in your mind?" Steve waited a minute before he saw Casey nod. "Good, where is this place?"

"The living room of the house Danny and I grew up in." She replied. Steve was slightly taken aback. That wasn't what he was expecting her to say at all.

"Okay, what are you doing there?"

"I'm sitting on the couch with Danny with my dad sitting in his chair. We're watching the Mets game." She explained. Steve could hear her breathing began to even out some.

"Yes, and the Mets are winning." Steve added, working with the image to try to make it as positive and soothing as possible. "It's a beautiful day for baseball. It's the middle of summer, the sun is shining. It's warm at the ballpark, you can see the sweat on the player's faces but you are nice and comfortable inside in the air conditioning. What's Danny doing?"

"He's arguing the strike call by the home plate umpire." Casey smiled but kept her eyes closed.

"I bet he is." Steve laughed a little. "And your dad?"

"He's teaching me how to score the game. My letters and numbers are barely legible but he just smiles at me and tells me that I'm a good girl." Casey's voice broke a little and Steve saw a few tears leak out from under her eyelashes. He reached up and brushed them away gently with his voice.

"You are, Casey. You're doing so well. Just keep thinking about that place, play the scene out in your mind whenever the pain gets to be too much." Steve stroked Casey's hair softly until she fell into a fitful sleep. He had been so focused on the woman in front of him that he didn't even realized that Danny had re-entered the room until he heard his voice from behind him.

"Babe," Danny said softly, getting Steve's attention. "That was…" His voice trailed off and Steve could see that his husband's eyes were bright with some unshed tears. "I thought you said you were no good at the whole comfort thing?" Danny came all the way into the room and stood beside Steve.

"I just thought back to some of my SEAL training." Steve shrugged and pulled Danny down to sit on his lap.

"Well I'll be damned. For once your Super SEAL powers weren't used to terrorize someone." Danny said sarcastically. Steve gave him a playful nudge. "Hey Steve?"

"Ya?"

"We're about to become parents." Danny declared as if the reality of situation was setting in for the first time.

"Yes we are." Steve agreed.

"Are you scared?" Danny looked back over his shoulder at Steve with a serious expression.

"I'm terrified." Steve said honestly.

"Good….Cause I am too." Danny leaned his forehead down to meet Steve's and the two sat like that for a few minutes just savoring the last little bit of time as just them before their entire world was turned upside down by a 8lb life changing miracle.

* * *

Casey had managed to get a couple hours of fitful sleep before all hell broke loose. She had finally made it to five centimeters and was allowed to have an epidural and once she was finally able to be pain free her labor had progressed quickly. She had just fallen back asleep around 2am when one of the various alarms that was attached to her began to wail. Medical personal quickly filled the room as it was determined that the alarm that was sounding was that of the fetal heart monitor. The baby's heart rate had dropped which was a possible sign that the baby was in distress.

When the doctor went to do a physical exam, he found significant bleeding. The pace in the room suddenly increased when the doctor decided that the best thing to do for both mom and baby was to perform a C-section. Danny and Steve found scrubs being shoved at them with orders to change quickly while they prepped her for surgery.

The worried feeling was palpable as Steve and Danny sat with Casey in the operating room. The medical personal tried to act like everything was normal but Steve had a feeling that something was wrong-_very _wrong. He wanted to believe that he was just being paranoid and remembered what Danny had told him about the bad things being in the past but he just couldn't shake the belief that with any moment of happiness came a moment of grief as well. The three of them held their collective breath as the doctor made the incision and continued to hold it until they heard it-the first cry. It was soft at first but it grew stronger as the doctor lifted the little body up for them to see.

"Say hello to your new baby girl." The doctor declared. "Who wants to cut the cord?" He asked.

Danny gave Steve a nod. The SEAL stood and wiped his shaking hands on his pants as he walked the few steps to where the doctor was holding the baby. He cut the cord carefully, all the while trying to soak up these first images of his daughter. Even screaming and bloody, Steve thought she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. He had to wipe the tears off his cheeks before sitting back down. The baby was hurried over to the warming table where she was assessed by a different set of doctors and nurses. After a minute or so, she was bundled up and brought over for Danny and Casey to get their first looks at her.

"You did good kid, you did really really good." Danny whispered to his sister, placing a kiss to the side of her head as he looked at his daughter, tears freely running down his face. Casey brought a hand up to cover her face as she started to cry. "Hey it's okay, everything going to be okay." Danny reassured.

"Dads I hate to cut this moment short but I'm going to have to ask you to leave the operating room now." The doctor declared.

"Why? What's wrong?" Steve asked, sensing a bit of urgency in the doctors voice.

"Mom here needs a little bit of extra attention so I need you two to exit stage right. The nurses here will show you up to the nursery so you can go with baby while she gets cleaned up and I deal with mom here." The doctor explained.

Steve knew that tone. It was the same tone that he'd heard from commanding officers when they knew they were about to head into a situation guaranteed not to have a good outcome. He met the doctor's eye and knew that his fears were confirmed: something was _very _wrong.


	15. A Turn for the Worse

**A/N:** Okay so I'm not cruel enough to kill Casey, so don't worry about that. I am however going to make her suffer a little…or maybe a lot. Also, my disclaimer for this chapter is that I am NOT a Mets fan, I am in fact a huge Cubs fan which makes it very difficult for me to write about the Mets but any mistakes that are made as far as players are entirely my bad. I try to do my research but the internet is a tricky thing sometimes.

_Doctor says the baby's fine but you'll have to leave cause his mama's fading fast and Johnny hit his knees and there he prayed.—Tim McGraw, Don't Take the Girl_

* * *

As soon as Danny and Steve had been escorted out of the operating room the activity level in the room seemed to increase drastically as carts were being pulled out and a mask was placed over Casey's face.

"Alright, I want you to take some big deep breaths for me and count backwards from one hundred." The anesthesiologist said calmly. Casey pushed the mask away from her face.

"What's happening to me?" She demanded. The anesthesiologist replaced the mask on her face.

"The doc just needs to do a quick little repair on you and he wants to put you out so you don't feel anything." He explained. Casey pushed the mask away again in frustration.

"I already can't feel anything below my chest. What's really going on?" She insisted.

"Just relax and take deep slow breaths." Casey tried to fight it but she watched in futility as something was injected into her IV and she slowly succumbed into the darkness…..into her safe place….

…_."Bottom of the fifth here at Shea Stadium. Things started out looking really good for the Mets, scoring six runs in the first and second innings but now here in the top of the fifth they've allowed the Atlanta Braves to score three runs, cutting the deficit in half. Boy the Mets are really starting to struggle here…"_

"_Franco does this every game. He gets to the fifth inning and then he forgets how to pitch. Torborg needs to get him out of there." Danny complained, his voice drowning out that of the announcer's. "When do we get Leiter back off the DL?"_

"_Not for another week. Don't worry son. The Mets have just hit a little bit of a stumbling block. They'll pull through." Charlie Williams reassured his oldest son. _

"_Daddy look! That guy's name is Pizza!" Casey exclaimed pointing her chubby little finger at the TV._

"_It's Piazza, ya goof." Danny corrected, rubbing the top of Casey's head. Casey took her pink crayon and wrote 'Pizza' on her scorecard. _

"…_and Piazza pops up on the first pitch he sees. Boy that is not a good sign for the Mets. You'd really like to see him take a few pitches and make the Atlanta pitcher work a little harder and give your own pitcher a little more time….._

"_Overrated." Danny grumbled. _

"_Patience son." Charlie said with a knowing smile. "Patience."_

"Will someone please tell me what the hell is going on?" Danny exclaimed as soon as they were out of the operating room.

"Mr. Williams, please-" The nurse said, attempting to calm him down. "The doctor will explain everything-"

"No, I don't want to wait for the doctor. I want to know right now what is wrong with my sister." He demanded. The nurse sighed.

"The doctor found internal bleeding. He doesn't know where it's coming so he needs to find the source and stop it quickly."

"Why is she bleeding?"

"I don't know…but it's possible she suffered a placental abruption."

"A what?"

"A placental abruption is when the placenta which is what helps provide nourishment to the baby separates from the uterine wall before the baby is delivered. It would explain why the baby's heart rate dropped and why she was in so much pain. It's not usually life threatening-"

"But it could be?"

"Only if the doctor can't get the bleeding under control. Look Mr. Williams, Mr. McGarrett, I really don't know anything else at this point. Now your daughter is being taken up to the NICU just as a precaution. Her one minute APGAR wasn't as high as we would have liked it to be. It should improve since we acted quickly. I'll show you up the waiting room." The nurse led the two men up one floor to where the NICU was and brought them into a private room where they could sit and wait.

"I could lose my sister." Danny declared suddenly as he began to pace the room. "I don't want to get a baby only to lose my sister."

"Danny, will you stop? Casey is not going to die, alright?" Steve said forcefully. He couldn't let himself think like that. Not when there were too many unknowns. Not when it was still a possibility.

"How do you know? Women die in childbirth all the time? How do you know that they didn't just kill my sister?" Danny ranted, pulling his hand through his hair roughly. It wasn't supposed to happen like this.

* * *

There was blood. Everywhere. The entire surgical field was obstructed by the red fluid leaking from seemingly everywhere. He knew that there was a tear somewhere from the placental abruption but the bleeding was too heavy to see where it was.

"I need more suction." He demanded.

"How long are you gonna let her bleed for Taves?" The anesthesiologist asked, not liking the way his patient's vital signs were looking. "Make the call."

"She's only 24. I don't want to do it unless I absolutely have to. If I can just find the bleeder I can fix it." The doctor insisted. "Lap pads, please"…

"….._Top of the 7__th__ here and the Mets are definitely in trouble. A once 6-0 nothing lead has been diminished to a 6-5 lead. Franco continued his fifth inning struggles into the sixth and now here in the 7__th__ he is still in and still continuing to struggle…."_

"_Frickin' Torborg should have lifted him in the 5__th__ when he got in trouble. Why won't he pull him and bring in the bullpen? There's no way he can hold a one run lead with the way he's been pitching." Danny asked incredulously. _

"_Have a little faith, Danny." Matt, who had arrived home from school and joined this siblings on the couch, patted his brother's shoulder._

"…_Oh and Franco has just hit the lead-off batter right in the back. This is not an encouraging sign….."_

"_Daddy why'd he do that?" Casey asked, alternating between her coloring book and her scorecard._

"_He was sending a message to the batter to back off the plate." Charlie explained patiently to his little girl. _

"_That's not very nice. Miss Sarah says it's not nice to hit people even if you're mad at them." Casey announced._

"_Ya well this isn't kindergarten dork. It's the Major Leagues." Matt snapped. _

"_Mattie, be nice. She's just trying to learn the game." Danny defended._

"_Ya well she needs to learn to be quiet. She's too young to understand it all anyways…."_

"….Taves, you got to make the call or she's going to bleed to death." The anesthesiologist insisted. "Her blood pressure is dropping and she's tachycardic."

"I can still save-" The doctor insisted. The anesthesiologist stopped him.

"You need to stop the bleeding and get out or you're going lose her on the table…."

"…_.Bottom of the 9__th__ and the Mets who once led this game 6-0 are now losing 8-7. They came out early in this game with a lot of promise and looking like they were going to have a really spectacular game and then very quickly Atlanta changed the momentum and now they find themselves barely hanging in this game…"_

"_Come on Mets! You can do it!" Casey cheered as she bounced on the couch._

"_Will you sit down and be quiet? It's not like there's any hope for them to actually win this game with the way that they're playing." Matt groused from his end of the couch._

"_But there's always hope. Never say never." Casey declared. Matt rolled his eyes._

"_If you're gonna talk like that go be a Cubs fan. They like believing in futility." He grumbled. Danny just looked at his brother. _

"_Will you just let her be? She's not hurting anybody by being excited."_

"_No, she's just being annoying as usual." Matt complained._

"_Casey will you leave your dad and brothers alone? What have I told you about bothering them when they're watching the game?" Margaret William, who had heard her youngest son's protest, scolded from the doorway._

"_I wasn't-" _

"_I don't want to hear it young lady. Now come in here and help me." She ordered Casey into the kitchen. Casey looked down at her score card and pouted. _

"_But I want to see the end of the game." _

"_Now, Casey Lynn!" Margaret commanded. _

_Casey looked at her father who was completely engrossed in the game and then at her brothers who were purposely avoiding her stare before she set her scorecard aside and followed her mother. From the kitchen she could hear the sounds as the Mets failed to score in the bottom of the ninth to come back and win the game. _

"…_Disappointing day here at Shea Stadium. The New York Mets who came out looking so promising took a seemingly unexpected turn for the worse and end up losing the game 8-7….."_

_Casey hung her head as she set the dinner table so her mother couldn't see the tears that slipped down her cheek….._

* * *

Dr. Taves ripped his surgical mask away from his face as his patient was wheeled out of the operating room to recovery. He tossed his mask on the floor along with his cap and gown in frustration.

"You waited too long to make the call." The anesthesiologist declared, his tone clipped.

"It doesn't make any difference now does it? At least I can tell her family that I tried everything possible." Taves snapped.

"At what cost? You let her bleed too long. She's still tachycardic and has lost a significant amount of blood. Her recovery is going to be a lot longer and harder now. You let your emotions get the best of you and it almost cost you your patient." And then the anesthesiologist walked out, leaving the doctor alone in the OR.

He thought he could have stopped the bleeding. He thought that he could repair the damage. He thought he was doing the right thing. Now his only thought was whether he had actually done more harm than good.


	16. This Woman's Work

**A/N:** Okay, so I warned you that I was going to be a little cruel to poor Casey. But at least Baby finally has a name. This part is going to move a little slow but there's going to be a lot of good stuff going on and a whole lot more drama in store for everybody involved.

_Pray god you can cope, I stand outside this woman's work. This woman's world. Ooh it's hard on the man, now his part is over. Now starts the craft of the father. I know you've got a little life in you left, I know you've got a lot of strength left—Kate Bush, This Woman's Work_

* * *

The doctors had decided to keep the baby in the NICU overnight for observation. She was having a hard time regulating her body temperature which wasn't totally uncommon for a newborn and so they wanted to keep her in an incubator until she could hold a consistent temperature. Steve had lost track of time as he and Danny had sat by their baby girl's crib side. He knew that there were still phone calls that needed to be made and other details that needed to be taken care of but right now they just couldn't bring themselves to move from their respective spots.

"She needs a name." Steve reminded as he stared at the sleeping infant.

The sign on the side of her incubator simply read 'Baby Girl Williams-McGarrett' and it bothered the new father that his daughter remained nameless. It was like she wasn't going to stay with them long enough to need one. Steve looked down into his new little girl's dark blue eyes as if he stared long enough a name would come to him. They had agreed that if it was a girl they wanted to the first name to start with an M but they had yet to find one that they had both liked. They had agreed on Rose as a middle name but that had been the extent of it.

"Makayla." Steve suddenly blurted out. Danny looked up at him.

"What?"

"She looks like a Makayla." Steve declared.

"She does huh?" Danny reached in and brushed his hand across her cheek. "Is that your name? Are you Makayla?" The baby wiggled slightly but didn't cry. "I guess that's a yes. You finally have a name. Makayla Rose Williams-McGarrett….god that's a mouthful."

"Ya but it's a perfect mouthful. Just like her." Steve said, reaching in on the other side to hold her little hand and Makayla wrapped her hand around one of his finger. Steve wanted to stay in that moment forever but the mood was broken by a knock at the door.

"Mr. Williams? Mr. McGarrett?" Dr. Taves poked his head into the room. Steve and Danny quickly waved him in.

"How's my sister?" Danny asked desperately. He didn't like the look on the doctor's face as he came as sat down next to him.

"Your sister suffered a placental abruption. The placenta separated from the uterine wall too soon and caused a tear which caused significant bleeding. There's no way of knowing when exactly this happened but considering that the baby showed no signs of distress before her labor started it couldn't have been very long before hand so there shouldn't be any long term effects for your daughter."

"But what about for Casey?" Steve asked.

"The tear was a fairly large one causing a lot of bleeding." The doctor took a deep breath as if he was preparing himself for something. "There was too much damage for me to be able to repair …so I had to perform a hysterectomy. I had no other choice and I did everything I could to avoid it but she was going to bleed to death if I didn't." Steve and Danny sat in a kind of stunned silence.

"So what does this mean?" Danny asked as he tried to wrap his head around what the doctor was saying.

"It means that your sister will never be able to have any more children of her own." Dr. Taves stated grimly. Danny and Steve's eyes both drifted towards the baby girl asleep between them. "I know this is a lot to process right now but in the long run your sister is going to be fine." He said.

"Can we see her?" Steve asked.

"She's in recovery right now but they'll be moving her to the surgical ICU soon. Because of the severe blood loss, her heartbeat is slightly irregular so I want to her be closely monitored until we can get it back to normal. I'll have a nurse come let you know when you can see her." Dr. Taves explained before leaving the two fathers alone again. Danny waited until he was out of earshot before he exploded.

"What the hell did he do to my sister?" He exclaimed.

"Danny, you don't know that he's responsible-"

"Of course he's responsible, they're all responsible! Casey told all of them how much pain she was in and they ignored her. They blew her off and she almost died as a result. Isn't the first part of the Hippocratic oath 'to do no harm'?" Danny ranted. Steve came over to his side and placed his hands on his shoulders in an attempt to ground the smaller man.

"I know you're scared but you need to calm down. The doctor said your sister is going to be okay." Steve reassured.

"Physically yes, but babe I don't know how she's going to react mentally. She made the choice to give her first born up for adoption and now she's going to find out that Makayla is the only child she's ever going to have? Steve, what if she changes her mind?"

Danny voice broke slightly and cold fear washed over Steve. He couldn't lose Makayla. He had fallen so completely in love with the idea of her and now in these few hours that she had been here in the flesh the feelings had only intensified. It would kill him to have her ripped away him and Danny.

"Let's not panic just yet okay? Let's just wait and see what happens." Steve said, trying to sound calm but as he looked at the sleeping baby, he just prayed that God wasn't playing a cruel joke on all of them.

* * *

Danny sometimes forgot just how young his baby sister really is. Casey had always acted older than her age, even as a little girl. He always figured that she grew up so fast because she had to. Their parents had never babied her so she had no other choice than to mature and take care of herself. Casey had always carried herself in a way that made her look older than she really was but seeing her lying deathly pale in a hospital bed made her look younger than her 24 years.

It had been over a day since Casey's surgery and she still wasn't showing any signs of coming around. Danny was beginning to wonder if maybe the doctors were right when they suggested that maybe this wasn't something physical but rather something psychological.

"_What aren't you telling me, doc?" Danny asked, sensing the doctor's unease as he examined Casey. _

"_We would have expected your sister to have come around by now." The doctor admitted. _

"_What are you saying? Do you think she's got some kind of brain damage?"_

"_No, nothing like that. Her body's been through a lot the last day or so. Childbirth is a traumatic experience for a body to go through and then you add severe blood loss and major surgery on top of that and its understandable for the body to need a little bit of time to recharge, but we would have expected to see some signs of her coming around, even if it's just waking up for a few minutes. But she's remained completely unresponsive."_

"_So what is wrong with her?"_

"_It's up to her right now to wake up. There's nothing we can do medically to help her along and sometimes, for whatever reason, some people… just don't want to wake up." The doctor said carefully, not sure how Danny would take this information. _

"_Are you trying to tell me that my sister wants to die?"_

"_No. But you might want to try talking to her, give her some reason to wake up."_

Danny reached through the bedrails and took his sister's hand. He rubbed the back of it gently as he spoke.

"The doctors are trying to tell me that for some reason you don't want to wake up. But I know you better than that, Casey. I know that you would never give up like this. You're a fighter…have been since the day you were born. And you've passed that spirit onto your daughter. Doctors say they can move her out of the NICU tomorrow. You have to wake up so you can see her."

Danny stood up and leaned over the side of the bedrails. Casey showed no reaction to his words and it set something off inside of him.

"Open your eyes, damn it! I'm tired of your dramatics. You've made your point and now it's time to wake the hell up!" Danny snapped, all of the emotions of the last few days finally getting to him as he pushed away from the bed and began to pace.

"Is everything alright?" A nurse poked her head into the room and looked at Danny with concern.

"We're fine." Danny reassured. The nurse looked at him for a minute before disappearing again. Danny turned back to his sister and leaned over the rail, brushing his hand over her hair lightly. "You've come this far, kid. Don't you dare give up on us now."

* * *

_Casey was tired. She felt like she hadn't slept in years but in the back of her mind she could hear someone telling her it was time to wake up and go back. But back to where? She wanted to leave but the problem was she didn't know where she was supposed to go. _

'_Go home' the voice told her._

_But what was home? Was it the house she couldn't get away from fast enough? Was it in the arms of a man she thought had loved her? Or was it some island thousands of miles from everything with people who supposedly gave a damn about her? They were all places that should have felt like home to her but somehow something was missing from all of them. So Casey figured she'd just wait here until she figured out what it was…_


	17. Numb

**A/n:** Man I really suck sometimes don't I? I leave you guys with that cliff hanger and then go and get distracted with some stories. That's not very nice of me. I apologize for that. There's a little surprise at the end of this chapter that about to make things VERY interesting. Also, I'm not done dealing with Casey's feelings surrounding everything that's happened to her, not by a long shot.

_I wish that life wasn't always ending up this way with heaven's love at stake and hell to pay-Allison Krauss, I Give You To His Heart_

* * *

Casey finally came around almost two days later. As she struggled to fight against the last of the sedatives she became aware of the pain that was radiating from her abdomen. She moaned softly as it intensified from a blunt ache to a sharp stabbing sensation that made her slightly nauseous.

"Hey, be careful. Don't rip your stitches." She heard her brother warn her as she tried to find a comfortable position on the bed. Danny helped sit up and take a drink to get rid of the cotton feeling in her mouth.

"God, this is worse than any hangover I've ever had." She moaned, rubbing her head roughly.

"Ya anesthesia is a bitch to come off of." Danny said, relief washing over him.

"How long have I been out?" She asked as she ran her hand through her hair. Judging by the amount of build up she figured it had been awhile.

"Almost two days." Casey cracked open an eye to look at her brother and could see that it hadn't been an easy two days.

"How bad?" She asked. She remembered being in the operating room and remembered the looks on everybody's faces that something was wrong but everything else was a blur. Danny sat down in the chair next to her bed and clasped his hands together.

"The doctors said you had a placental abruption which can happen in women who have been diagnosed with preeclampsia like you. It caused a tear in your uterine wall which is what caused the baby's heart rate to drop so they had to do a C-section"

"So that's why I feel like someone tried to rip me in half." She commented. There was a look on her brother's face that was causing a sinking feeling in her stomach.

"You had started to bleed uncontrollably after the baby was delivered and they had to perform further surgery." Danny's stare dropped down to his hands and Casey knew there was something he didn't want to tell her.

"What is it Danny? Why'd they have to do more surgery?"

"They had to perform a hysterectomy, Casey. They couldn't stop the bleeding. It was the only way…" Danny's voice trailed off. Casey's face was blank as she processed the information. Her hands unconsciously fell to her lower abdomen.

"Well I always said I didn't want kids. I guess God took me seriously." She replied but her voice was oddly void of emotion.

"Hey let's focus on the positives. You're okay and Makayla's okay-" Danny said, trying to redirect her mental state before she could get too depressed.

"You named her Makayla?" Casey asked, forcing herself to be distracted by something other than the bomb that had just been dropped on her.

"You don't like it?" Danny frowned.

"No, I think it's perfect. What's her whole name?"

"Makayla Rose Williams-McGarrett."

"My god Danny her name's big than she is." She pointed out.

"She'll grow into it." Danny reassured.

"So she's okay? No problems?" Casey could handle if she was screwed up but if anything had happened to the baby she could never have forgiven herself.

"She's perfect. 10 fingers, 10 toe. Pink, plumb and perfect. The doctors say we should be able to take her home within the next day or so."

"Good. That's good." She smiled but Danny could tell her heart wasn't in it.

"You on the other hand are going to have to stay a little longer. They want to make sure there are no lingering effects from the surgery." Danny informed. Casey simply nodded. "You sure you're okay?"

"I'm just tired. I'll be alright, Danny. You should go home and get your last good night of sleep before you bring that baby home." She encouraged.

"Okay. Steve and I will stop by tomorrow and maybe if you're feeling up to it we can take you up to see Makayla." Casey nodded and tried another smile but it once again failed to reflect any real emotion. Danny leaned over and placed a kiss on the top of her head before leaving her alone.

Casey felt numb. She wanted to cry. She wanted to mourn the loss of the possibility of being a mother. Sure, she knew she couldn't be one right now but there had been the option that maybe when she was in a different point in her life that maybe then she could be a mother. Now that could never happen.

She wanted to be angry-at the doctors, at God, at Micah and at herself. She had made one mistake and now she had suffered such a painful consequence. It wasn't fair. It was like she had been given one chance to be a mother and when she declined, God robbed her of the chance forever. It was a punishment she was going to have to live with for the rest of her life.

Placing her hand over her abdomen where her stitches were, Casey knew she was supposed to feel something but there was nothing there.

* * *

"Ma? What are you doing here?" Danny asked as he approached his mother at baggage claim.

He had gotten a call from her as he was leaving the hospital that she had just landed at Honolulu International and needed to be picked up. Danny had to resist the urge to groan until he was sure he had hung up the phone. He had called his mother after Makayla was born to let her know she had another granddaughter but he didn't expect her make the trip. This was the last thing they needed right now.

"I came to see my new granddaughter and so I thought I would surprise you. I knew if I told you that I was coming you would tell me not to so I figured this way was better." Margaret Williams explained as she hugged her son. "Plus I figured you boys would need help and it never hurts to have an experienced mother's touch around."

"Ma I have taken care of an infant before and Steve's no dummy." Danny pointed out. Margaret waved her hand dismissively.

"I know Daniel but you had Rachel then and babies need a woman's touch sometimes." She replied. Danny resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "I hope it's not imposing on you too much to have me staying with you. I can stay on the couch if needs be."

"You're going to stay at the house with us?"

"Well yes silly. I won't be doing you much good at a hotel." Margaret laughed. Danny faked a smile.

"No mom. It's no imposition on us. We're happy to have you."

As Danny led his mother out of the airport, he sent up a silent prayer to whatever god would listen that this would not end as disastrously as he was expecting it too.


	18. Mothers and Daughters

**A/n: **So now we get our first glimpse into Casey and her mother's relationship and let me warn you-it's complicated-but things have to get worse before they can get better right? Right. These next couple chapters will have quite a bit of Casey and her mother but I'll make sure there's plenty of the boys too.

_Some parents really bring their children up; others let them down-anonymous_

* * *

Casey was getting tired of being in the hospital. It had been over four days since Makayla was born. If things had gone right, she would have been gone two days ago. '_But nothing in my life ever goes right' _She thought to herself as she woke up late that morning. Her head had been in a bad place ever since her conversation with Danny after first waking and she was finding it harder and harder to snap out of it.

As she took a second to gather her surroundings, she realized that there was someone else in the room-someone who was not Steve or Danny. She turned her side to the side and carefully opened her eyes. The sight that greeted her was her mother sitting at her bedside.

"Great," Casey said as she turned her head back forward and stared up at the ceiling. "I've died and gone to hell."

"Oh don't start." Margaret rolled her eyes.

"Either that or the doctors lied and I'm not doing as well as everyone says I am." Casey muttered to herself before once again turning to her mother. "Seriously, what are you doing here? Because those are the only two plausible explanations I can think of as to why you are sitting by my hospital bedside." Casey pondered aloud.

"I'm here to see my new granddaughter….I just didn't realize when your brother told me he was adopting that the child was actually going to be blood." Margaret explained trying to disguise the slight disdain in her voice. Casey caught it anyways.

"Oh well, sorry to disappoint but that shouldn't be anything new for you. "

"To be honest I'm surprised that it took this long. I thought for sure that you wouldn't have made it out of high school without getting pregnant."

"I'm not sure if that was an insult or a compliment so I'm going to take it as both." Casey looked at her mother again. "So what are you doing sitting here with me when you came to see the baby?"

"The boys had to bring the baby by for a checkup. I'm just waiting for them to finish up so we can head home."

"You're staying at the house?" Casey asked, her stomach filling with dread.

"Of course I am. The boys need my help." Her mother replied as if it was obvious. "I just came down here to make sure you were alright."

"Because now you care?" Casey asked incredulously.

"I am your mother." Margaret stated with a heavy sigh.

"Unfortunately." Her daughter gave a fake smile and she rolled her eyes again.

"Go to bed Casey. Maybe you'll be in a more agreeable mood when you wake up." Margaret frowned.

"Doubt it." Casey muttered under her breath but she closed her eyes, if only in an attempt to block out the nightmare surrounding her.

The next time that she opened her eyes, the chair that her mother had been sitting in was now occupied by her brother. Danny caught the movement coming from the bed and shifted his chair closer to her. Casey rolled her head to the side, still too sore to move properly and glared at him.

"Damn brother, you can't even let me get back onto my feet before you sick the devil on me?" She accused. Danny had the good grace to look sheepish.

"I'm sorry. I called her to tell her about Makayla and I didn't think-"

"Well that's obvious." She said sarcastically.

"-And I didn't think that she was going to drop everything and fly out here. She's shown no interest in coming to Hawaii before." Danny continued, ignoring her interruption. While he loved his mother, Danny was slightly bitter about the fact that she was willing to fly out here for her granddaughter but not for his and Steve' wedding. "I had to tell her. She was going to find out eventually when we brought you home from the hospital." Casey stared narrowed.

"I'm not staying in the same house with her, Danny. One of us won't make it out alive." She declared.

"Will you please just do this for me?" Danny requested, pinching the bridge of his nose in an attempt to fight off the impending headache he knew was coming. He'd fought this battle before and it never got any easier.

"Why do I have to do anything for you? Last time I did something for you I almost died so forgive me if I'm a little reluctant to agree." Casey snapped. "I'll stay at a hotel once they discharge me, I don't care."

"You're not going to be able to be on your own when you get out. You're going to have limited mobility and range while you're recovering and you're going to need help. Plus it will be good for you to spend some time with Makayla. So you're coming home with us. There's no other option." Danny explained, leaving his sister no room to argue. Casey pointed a finger at him.

"Do not say I didn't warn you."

* * *

Casey knew she probably looked like a petulant child as she sat back in the passenger seat with her arms crossed over her chest but she didn't care. She had finally been discharged and was still not please about having to be under the same roof as their mother. It certainly wasn't doing much to improve her mood.

"What the hell brought this on? I thought it was too far for them to travel." She complained as she stared out the window.

"It's just Mom. She thinks that Steve and I need help taking care of the baby." Danny explained and he could have sworn he saw a flash of disappointment when he had said it was just their mother but it was gone too quickly to be sure.

"God, this is going to be a disaster." Casey groaned, leaning her head against the window. "Are you sure Steve is prepared to handle this? Because Margaret Williams is a force to be reckoned with."

"He's a Navy SEAL, he's been trained to withstand torture." Danny joked.

"I don't think he's been trained for this." Casey warned, her tone slightly serious.

The car was silent the rest of the way to the house. As the Camaro pulled into the driveway, Casey did her best to ignore the sharp pain in her chest that came with a panic attack as she breathed. She knew having to face her mother again had something to do with it but she knew that the main reason was the tiny bundle of pink that she had managed to avoid up until this point.

A part of her was feeling like the hysterectomy was a sign that she was never meant to be a mother and so she needed to run away from this kid as soon and as far as possible before she could cause any damage but then another smaller part of her wanted to wrap the baby-her only child-up in her arms and never let her go. And until she could figure out which feeling was the right one she wanted to keep as much distance as possible between her and the child.

Danny came around to her side of the car and helped her stand. The stitches across her abdomen pulled and she bit back a groan as they walked towards the house. Steve was sitting in the living room with Makayla tucked tightly into his arms as he gave her a bottle. A pang of jealousy hit Casey and she immediately hated herself for it. _'She's their baby'_ Casey reminded herself but the feeling remained as she was led over to sit next to them on the couch.

"How are you feeling?" Steve asked, tearing his eyes away from the baby in his arms.

"I can honestly say I've had better days." Casey answered and attempted to fake a smile. In honesty she felt like someone was trying to rip her in half but admitting to that kind of pain would land her back on bed rest and morphine-two things she was extremely sick of.

"Do you want to hold her?" Steve asked as he noticed her staring at Makayla.

"I held her for nine months. Time for someone else to have a turn." Casey deflected.

She wasn't ready yet and somehow, Steve seemed to realize this because he didn't push the subject and further. Casey gave her brother-in-law an appreciative smile as she settled herself onto the couch. Voices drifted in from the kitchen and she stiffened slightly at the sound of her mother.

"She doesn't seem so bad." Steve commented as he turned his attention back to Makayla.

"Ha! That's because she likes you." Casey scoffed. "A word of advice, never get on Margaret Williams bad side. The woman gives the word bitch a whole new meaning."

"She seems like a nice lady. And she's your mother." Steve reminded. Casey shook her head.

"She was my mother. Now she's just my enemy."


	19. This Phase is Going to Fly By

**A/n: **sorry it took me so long to update this one. Between finals and getting hijacked by my other story, this one kind of got forgotten. Danny's quote is from Don Juan DeMarco (1995).

_He didn't have to wake up, he'd been up all night lying there in bed listening to his newborn baby cry. He makes a pot of coffee and splashes water on his face. His wife gives him a kiss and says it's gonna be okay. It won't be like this for long, one day we'll look back laughing at the week we brought her home. This phase is gonna fly by, so baby just hold on. Cause it won't be like this for long.—Darius Rucker, It Won't Be Like This For Long._

* * *

"She changes a little more every day, doesn't she?" Danny whispered from the doorway. Steve looked up at his partner and nodded with a smile.

Makayla had woken them up for her 4am feeding, howling through the baby monitor until Steve hurried in and tucked her safely into his arms. The SEAL was used to getting by with very little sleep, having had to spend days at a time awake while on a mission but it had been a long time since he'd had to do it and so he was admittedly as tired as everyone else in the house. He and Danny tried to take turns as to who got up with her but both usually got up anyways. Danny's mother helped out occasionally, with a middle of the night feeding or diaper change but she took most of the day shift which allowed the two men to catch up on their sleep.

Casey had continued to keep her distance though, only interacting with Makayla when she absolutely had to. Neither man necessarily blamed her for not pitching in with the night time duties. They knew she was still struggling with a lot of pain from her surgery and ended up passing out most night with a dose of pain meds that they forced her to take. Her mobility was also somewhat limited until her stitches were removed so, it wasn't easy for her to be up and moving a moment's notice when the baby cried.

Danny came in from his spot at the door and knelt down next to Steve as he sat in the rocking chair, feeding Makayla.

"It's amazing how quickly they go from red, wrinkled aliens to soft, beautiful babies." Danny commented as he stroked a finger down his daughter's cheek.

"I can't believe how big she's gotten already." Steve said, looking down at the baby in his arms. He often found himself just staring at Makayla in awed wonder, not quite believing that she was really his and that his dream for a family was really coming true.

"She'll grow faster than you want her to, trust me. It still feels like just yesterday that Grace was her age and now she's practically a young lady. People always tell you that the time flies but until you're actually a parent, it's hard to truly understand how fast it goes." Danny explained, a wistful expression on his face.

"What do you think she'll be like?"

"She'll be a little bit like you, a little like me, a little like her mother and a whole lot of her own unique self." Danny declared.

"Wow. That was deep, Danno. Want to explain the secret of life to me while you're at it?" Steve joked. Danny rolled his eyes.

"Ha ha. But your mocking does remind me of a quote I heard once. It was that, there are four questions of value in life…what is sacred? Of what is the spirit made of? What is worth living for and what is worth dying for? The answer to all is the same—only love."

"Where'd you hear that?" Steve asked, serious now.

"It was in a movie I had to watch for school. Don Juan, I think? I'm pretty sure Johnny Depp was in it and that I hated the rest of the movie but that quote kind of stuck with me." Danny shrugged.

"It's true." Steve admitted. "In the Navy and especially in the SEAL's, it becomes engrained in you to be willing to die for your fellow man but…. it wasn't until I met you that I truly understood what that meant. You're not sacrificing your life for someone just because it's what you're supposed to do, you do it because the thought of losing that person, of having to go through even one day without them in your life makes death seem like a kinder option. You want to protect that person from ever having to face harm and even though you know you being gone will hurt, their life for yours seems like an easy deal to make because somehow their life will always mean more than your own."

Steve's ocean blue eyes turned a shade darker as they filled with tears and Danny moved so that he could reach his partner's head and leaned in to kiss him gently.

"I love you, Steven." He whispered against his lips. "But you better not plan on going anywhere anytime soon. I'm not raising these girls alone."

"I'm not going anywhere, Danny. This is now Grace and Makayla's home now and we have to be here to protect it."

* * *

"Micah called me." Casey announced while out to lunch with Mary later that afternoon.

Steve had suggested that it might be a good idea if the two spent some time together in an attempt to get Casey out of the house. Tensions were running high between Casey and her mother and both he and Danny thought it would be a good idea to get the two of them away from each other for awhile before they came to blows.

"Micah, as in your ex and biological father of your child?" Mary asked, a little shocked.

"That would be the one." Casey confirmed.

"Well what did you say to him?" Mary asked, curious. Casey didn't talk about her ex too often but Mary knew things weren't good between them.

"Nothing. I didn't answer the phone, I let it go to voicemail." Casey admitted. The call had caught her off guard and she didn't know what to say to him so she avoided the call in hopes that she could still avoid him.

"What does he want?"

"His band is going to be in town this weekend playing a private concert at the Hilton. He wants to see me. Says he wants to talk." Casey replied.

"Does he know about Makayla?" Mary asked. She didn't know all of the details surrounding Casey and Micah's relationship except that it was extremely complicated.

"I tried to tell him when I first found out I was pregnant and the adoption agency was supposed to notify him when Makayla was born so that they could get him to terminate his rights which he hasn't done."

"Do you think that's what he wants to talk about?"

"I assume so. Though this isn't completely unlike him to just call out of the blue after having no contact for months." Casey groused.

"So are you going to go see him?"

"I don't know how much of a choice I have. If this is about the adoption, then I need to convince him to sign the papers but it it's not…." Casey's voice trail. If couldn't think about any other possible motives for this meeting.

"What do Steve and Danny have to say about this?"

"I haven't told them and I don't plan to." Mary shot her friend a wary look. "They'll just say no or try to go with me and this is something I have to do alone."

"So how do you plan on getting out of the house?" Casey shrugged.

"I don't know. I'm sure I'll come up with something." She admitted. If there was one thing that Casey had perfected during her teenage years it was sneaking out of the house to meet up with boys.


	20. When a Tornado Meets a Volcano

**A/n:** Drama, drama, drama. I couldn't help myself, the opportunity was just too good to pass up. Warning for slight domestic violence. I'm so mean to poor Casey. The song that Micah's band is supposedly playing is "Revelry" by Kings of Leon.

* * *

"…_Born to run baby run like a stream down a mountainside, with the wind in my back I don't ever even bat an eye. Just know it was you all along who had a hold of my heart but the demon in me was the best of friends from the start…"_

Casey closed her eyes and let the familiar lyrics wash over her. It had been far too easy to get away from the house for the afternoon. Steve, Danny and Maggie had taken the baby to go see Grace's tennis match. The match figured to take at least an hour or two with a promise of shave ice afterwards. Casey figured that was plenty of time to slip out to the Hilton and talk to Micah and get back before anyone would know she was missing, so she had claimed that she wasn't feeling well and stayed behind. She felt bad taking advantage of the situation. She had actually been feeling almost back to normal by now but it was such a convenient cover that nobody questioned. The last few notes of the song drifted through the air and Casey opened her eyes to see Micah staring at her.

"I used to think you sang that song for me." Casey declared wistfully as she listened to the band finish up their sound check. Micah smiled at her and hopped off the stage to greet her.

"I do sing it for you." He replied, leaning in for a kiss. Casey turned her cheek so that he kissed her cheek instead.

"Do you really? Or are you just telling me what you think I want to hear?" She accused with a sigh. She couldn't let him charm his way through this meeting or he'd end up right back in her life which was exactly where she was trying to keep him out of.

"Why do you have to be like that?" Micah asked, still smiling as he led her over to the bar. "Always with the attitude."

"You called me for this meeting. What do you want, Micah?" Casey asked, straight faced.

"I heard from Benny that you left Atlanta." He started, signaling the bar tender for a drink.

"Ya like a year ago. Nice to know you missed me." Casey said with fake sweetness. Micah rolled his eyes.

"I told you I was coming back. I had to go deal with all the press stuff for the new CD and then I was coming back to you." He explained.

"Like you came back for me in New York?" She asked bitterly. She'd heard this all before, only this time she wasn't going to fall for it. "Is that what you told her too?"

"What are you talking about?" He asked, trying to play dumb and failed miserably.

"I'm talking about Ansleigh Harper!" Casey shouted. He was jerking her around and she was not willing to let him have control of this situation.

"I'm not with her. She was working on the album-"

"Oh bullshit Micah! According to her and the reports you two have been a serious item for over a year. Tell me something; was she what you were doing when you 'needed time to focus'?"

Casey was pretty sure she knew the answer. Micah had a habit of disappearing for a few days claiming he needed to go somewhere and refocus his mind. So he'd leave and she'd have no contact with him until he returned. She had always wondered if he was cheating but she never had the guts to ask till now.

"Don't believe everything you hear."

"Why? Are you suggesting I believe you instead? Because you know you have such a great track record when it comes to being honest with me." Casey stated sarcastically, her voice sounding a hell of a lot more confident than she felt.

"You are overreacting-"

"How? I would _love_ for you to tell me how I am overreacting to the fact that you cheated on me and I caught you?" She exclaimed.

"You are going off something you read in a tabloid. Those things are always making shit up. I was working with Ansleigh on a song for the new album. It was the record's idea, not me."

"And I'm just supposed to take your word for it?" She said doubtfully.

"Believe whatever you want." Micah waved dismissively. "I didn't ask you here to get in an argument about our relationship."

"Then what am I doing here?" Casey asked. Micah pulled a piece of paper out of his back pocket and set it on the bar.

"I want to talk about this." Casey looked at the paper and saw that it was the letter to petition him to terminate his rights to Makayla from the adoption agency. "Since when do we have a kid together?"

"Since September 27th, so for almost three weeks." Casey stated.

"God, Case when you texted me I thought-"

"That I was lying? _I wasn't_."

"I didn't think you were going to go through with it." Micah admitted. Casey dropped her eyes away from his.

"Well I did. Just because I couldn't be her mother doesn't mean that I couldn't give her the opportunity to have a life. So I decided to give her up for adoption." She explained quietly.

"Her? It's a little girl?" Casey nodded.

"Makayla Rose Williams-McGarrett."

"Williams? She's still carrying your last name?"

"No. It's her last name too. I gave her to my brother and his husband, Steve McGarrett." Micah's eyes went wide as he stared at her for a moment.

"Wait a minute, you gave our child to your brother and his…husband? Since when is your brother gay?"

"It's a long story that isn't really relevant to this conversation. All you need to know is that I gave her to a good family where she will be loved and adored. So sign the papers so that we can finalize the adoption." She demanded.

"Whoa whoa wait a minute. Let me make sure I've got things straight. You gave our child to your brother so, what? You can go and take her back when you decide that you want to actually be a mommy? Is that what this is about?" Micah accused.

"No!" Casey exclaimed. "This is a permanent decision. I gave her away for good."

"But you'll still be around and involved in her life, right?" He asked.

"Probably. They've said they want her to know me." She admitted. Micah began to laugh.

"What's so funny?"

"The fact that you actually think your brother is telling the truth. All their bullshit about you being a part of the kid's life? They're full of it. You might as well kiss that baby goodbye forever. They're not going to want you around. You're not exactly the greatest role model." He said, continuing to chuckle.

"Gee thanks Micah." Casey rolled her eyes.

"I'm not trying to be mean. I'm trying to keep you from falling for a fairy tale." Micah admitted.

"Are you trying to tell me that you're looking out for my well being? That's a first." She said sarcastically.

"So I'm an asshole, what else is new? But at least I don't walk around with my head in the clouds. You were the one who told me that your whole family-including your brother-thinks you're a fuck up. You really think he's going to want you around the kid?"

"Why do you have to screw with my head?" Casey whined, placing her head in her hands.

"If I'm screwing with your head it's only because you already had doubts." He pointed out. "I don't think you thought through all your options. What makes you think that I don't want to be a father and have a family with the two of you?" He suggested.

"I have thought that option through and it won't work." Casey stated.

"Why not?"

"Because when has it ever worked?" She shouted. "You and I have been together on and off for six years and not _once_ have we ever made it work for more than a few months. I can't do that anymore. I couldn't have our child watch her parents make up and break up every couple of months. What kind of message would that be sending her?"

"Maybe this is the push I needed. It could work between us this time." Micah shrugged.  
"We could get married. You still have that ring I gave you in New York don't you?"

"Micah, I pawned that ring three years ago." Casey said.

"What? I used part of my signing bonus from my first record contract to buy that ring." He exclaimed.

"Yeah? Well, I used it to pay my rent after you left me Seattle." She snapped back at him. Micah sighed.

"Fine, I'll buy you a new ring." Casey shook her head.

"Don't start with me, Micah."

"Don't start what?"

"Don't start telling me your lies. You're never going to change. We're never going to get married. You are just trying to be your typical jackass self and screw with me because you think its fun. Well guess what? I'm done with you and your bullshit. Sign the damn papers so that I can be done with you forever." She declared.

"And what if I don't want to? What if I want my child huh? It's my right as a father to have custody since her mother abandoned her." Micah said getting up in her face.

"You son of a bitch." Something inside Casey snapped and she reached out and punched Micah in the face. He recovered quickly and he grabbed her wrist and yanked it close to him roughly. "Let me go." She demanded.

"No. I see the game you're trying to play. You don't want the kid but you don't want me to have her either. You want to be a mommy without having to do any of the hard work because you're lazy and a failure. It's a good thing you want to give this kid away because you would be a terrible mother. You'd screw this kid up worse than your mother screwed you up." Micah accused, getting right in her face as he berated her. He still had her wrist trapped in his hand so she used her legs instead and kneed him in the groin. Micah doubled over in pain and let go of his grip on her.

"You self-righteous asshole. I will not let you verbally abuse me anymore. I wasted enough of my life loving your useless ass and now I'm done. I know I'm no prize but I'm doing the best I can for my child which is more than you could ever say." She spat at him.

Micah reared up from his hunched over position and before Casey could even realize what was happening, his fist connected with her cheek. The blow caught her off guard and off balance and her head connected with the side of the bar as she stumbled and landed in an unconscious heap on the floor.

* * *

Danny had just closed the door to the nursery after putting Makayla down for her afternoon nap. Today had been one of her first public outings and all of the excitement had worn her out. The infant had fallen asleep in the car and didn't wake at all in the process of moving from her car seat to her crib. Danny was just about to check on Casey when his phone began to vibrate on his hip. He pulled it off and looked at the Caller ID.

"This cannot be good." He muttered under his breath as he answered. He and Steve were supposed to be off duty for the next two weeks. "Detective Williams."

"Detective Williams, this is Sergeant Lee at HPD headquarters. We have your sister in custody down at central booking." Danny stopped mid step as he tried to process what he'd heard.

"I'm sorry. What did you say?" The officer couldn't possibly be right. Casey was asleep in the bedroom just down the hall. At least, that's where she was _supposed _to be.

"Your sister Casey Williams is being booked as we speak at HPD headquarters." The officer repeated.

"What's the charge?" He exclaimed as he flung open her door to reveal an empty bed.

"Assault."


	21. In Custody

**A/n: **So I'll warn you now that Danny's kind of a jerk in this chapter. I don't mean for him to be, he just came out that way. We all know how he can be when he's upset.

_There's no problem so awful that you can't add some guilt to it and make it worse—Calvin and Hobbes_

* * *

Steve paused for a moment outside of the holding cell. Casey was sitting on the bench with her head in her hands. Strands of golden blonde hair fell around her face like a veil and he could just barely make out the ice pack that she was holding to her face. Casey didn't notice his presence until the officer opened the cell door and Steve walked in. She looked up at him and sighed.

"Where's Danny?"

"He's talking to the arresting officer." Steve informed. He had overheard the officer discussing the charges. She had been charged with assault while Micah was being held on aggravated assault charges. Casey frowned.

"He's pissed at me." She stated with a frown. Steve opened his mouth to deny it and then thought better of it.

"You know how he gets when he's upset. He'll calm down, just give him time." Casey sighed and shook her head with a wince.

"Even when I try to do something right, I manage to find a way to screw it up." She muttered to herself.

"You want to tell me what happened?" Steve asked gently, sitting down next to her. Casey looked over at her brother in law. She really didn't want to talk about it but she knew that there was no way for her to avoid it, plus Steve was less likely to explode.

"Micah called me a few days ago and said that he was going to be in town and he wanted to see me. With so much unresolved between us I figured I didn't have much of a choice but to go if I was ever going to get on with my life. So I agreed to meet him. I thought I could get him to sign the termination papers so you guys could finalize the adoption. He was being his typical self, trying to sweet talk me and it pissed me off so I told him that I knew he was cheating on me."

"And what did he have to say?"

"He denied it like I knew he would. I tried to get him to sign the papers but he was being stubborn just to get me upset which it did." Casey admitted bitterly. She hated the fact that she had let Micah get to her. "He threatened to take Makayla….to raise her as his own. I couldn't let him do that, Steve. I couldn't let him have her. So I punched him in the face-"

"Nice right hook, by the way." Steve interjected, nudging her shoulder in support as she continued.

"He grabbed my wrist before I could move away. We yelled a little more. He called me a terrible mother and said I was a bad role model for Makayla…so I kneed him in the groin. That set him off and he hit me back." She explained, readjusting the icepack on her face.

"Who called the police?"

"Bar tender I think, I was knocked out for a minute or two." Casey admitted.

"You okay? Did you get checked out?" Steve asked, suddenly worried.

"I'm fine. I lost my balance when he hit me and hit the edge of the bar. EMT's at the scene checked me out. It's just a slight concussion. I'll have a killer headache but nothing more." She said dismissively.

"Well Danny's working on getting the charges against you dropped." Steve said, still staring at her in concern.

"Let him press charges. It wouldn't be the first time." Casey declared. Steve raised an eyebrow.

"You don't have a record." He stated.

"That's because we always drop the charges in a couple of days after we've calmed down." She explained.

"Why do you keep going back to this guy when you know he treats you like crap?" Steve sighed.

"Because Micah and I are two people who really shouldn't be together yet we keep thinking every time that this time we're going to make it work and be normal. But I'm done. I won't go back to him again-I can't. I have to have a higher standard for myself and start setting a better example for Makayla." Casey stated with conviction.

"Well that's good to hear." Danny announced, suddenly appearing outside of the holding cell. He was trying to sound neutral but Casey could tell he was still extremely mad at her. "Come on, let's go."

"You got the charges dropped?" Casey asked as Danny opened the cell door.

"No, I got you released into the custody of the 5-0." He replied, not looking at her. Casey hung her head.

"Thank you, Danny." She said sincerely.

"You're welcome." Danny replied curtly. Steve just looked at him. The three walked out of headquarters, Casey in front with Steve and Danny hanging back behind her.

"She really didn't do anything wrong." Steve said to his partner. "It was self defense."

"I do not care. The fact is that she lied to our faces and went behind our backs to go see the one person I specifically told her not to see. You know why? This is exactly why! Can you imagine what would have happened if she had gone while she was still pregnant? This is Casey's problem. She doesn't think when it comes to that asshole!" Danny hissed as he gestured towards his sister.

"She was trying to get him to sign the termination papers." Steve started.

"I don't care what her intentions were. I told her we would deal with this the proper way but why should she listen to me?"

"I'm just saying go easy on her. It wasn't all her fault." Steve added. Danny didn't say anything as he opened up the passenger door and waited for his sister to get in. Casey hesitated.

"I think I should stay at a hotel tonight. You're obviously mad and I'm sure mom will have something to say and we just don't need that kind of drama around Makayla. It's not good for her." She explained.

"Maybe you should have thought of that before you went and did this." Danny stated. Steve shot him a look over the top of the car. "You're not getting away that easy. You're coming home with us." Casey just sighed and climbed into the backseat. They made it about half way home before Danny started in on his rant.

"What the hell did I tell you about getting revenge? I thought we agreed that you were going to stay away from him." Danny shouted.

"No. I agree to stay away from him while I was pregnant. I'm not anymore which means that I am free to do whatever I damn well please. I went to get him to sign the papers so that Makayla would officially be yours. I was doing it for you, you ass." Casey yelled back, tired of her brother's attitude towards her.

"I told you we would all deal with this." He reminded, trying to get himself back under control.

"Ya I know how you deal with things and your way wasn't going to work so I took things into my own hands." She declared.

"God what do you think you're Steve now and you can just do whatever the hell you please?" Steve looked over at Danny and frowned but his partner didn't notice.

"You know what Danny? Pull the stick out of your ass alright? You can't always do everything by the book. Sometimes alternative methods are required to achieve a favorable result. The ends justified the means." Casey stated. Danny looked over at Steve.

"It's like talking to a female version of you when you get in your Rambo mode." He stated before turning back to his sister. "This was not some covert operation alright? It was a stupid decision that you made with your hormones instead of your brain. You took a stupid risk, understand that." Danny chastised as they got out of the car. Casey looked him dead in the eye and gave him the finger before walking in the opposite direction of the house. "Oh that's real mature. Where are you going?"

"Away from you." Casey shouted as she walked up the driveway and out towards the street.

"Give me the keys." Danny demanded.

"Let her go, Danny." Steve replied.

"Let her go? What the-why would I let her go?" Danny shouted.

"Because if you don't, she's likely to punch _you_ in the face. Give her some space and give yourself some time to calm down. Then we can finish the discussion." Steve explained. Danny frowned at him as he slammed his door closed.

"I hate it when you're rational."


	22. Being Drunk's a Lot Like Loving You

**A/N: **so I've been debating on whether or not to post this chapter and I have finally decided to just bite the bullet and do it. Reading over it now I'm pretty happy with it, and I think we only have a few more chapters left in this story but don't worry, I have many more adventures planned for the Williams-McGarrett household!

_Cause I've woke up some mornings and sworn off the drink and at that I've done reasonable well I think but I haven't done well swearing off you and me, at that I've failed miserably. I've drank till I stumbled and I drank till I fell and when the drunk part was over it hurt me like hell, now I know about drinking so I know one thing's true, being drunk's a lot like loving you.—Kenny Chesney, Being Drunk's A Lot Like Loving You._

* * *

"You're drinking like you're trying to drown something." The bartender commented as he set down a new glass.

"Not something-someone." Casey corrected.

She had walked for probably a half an hour before ending up at some little hole-in-the-wall bar on the beach. It was relatively deserted except for her and a few other patrons in the back corner. Casey swirled the contents of her drink around slowly as she rested her head on her hand. The liquor wasn't doing much to help the massive headache that she had from the concussion but it was at least numbing some of her emotional pain.

It hadn't been easy to kick Micah out of her life. Despite what she had told him during their confrontation, deep down she knew she still had feelings for him and somehow figured she always would. He was after all the father of her daughter and there was no way she would be able to look at Makayla and not think about him.

"Come on, let me call someone for you. It's not right to see a pretty girl like you crying into her drink." The bartender offered as he handled her a tissue. Casey wiped at her face, not even realizing that she was crying.

"I don't have anyone." She stated. She was not about to call either of the guys to come pick her up from the bar. She figured she'd just call a cab eventually and find a cheap hotel to pass out in until things calmed down a little.

"There's gotta be someone…" The bartender pushed. Casey shook her head.

"Nope. There's no one." She declared. She then killed her drink and signaled for another one.

* * *

"This is why I didn't want to let her go." Danny declared as he paced across the living room floor, gently bouncing a crying Makayla in his arms as he went.

"Danny I'm sure she's fine." Steve reassured as he flipped through the channels on the TV.

"It's been over two hours since she took off. She could be half way across the island by now." Danny exclaimed as he rubbed gently circles on his daughter's back.

"I doubt she could have got that far." Steve said.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that." Maggie said as she brought in a tray of drinks. "Casey once snuck out of the house and made it all the way to Newark which was half way across the state from us then by the time we tracked her down. Daniel had to use a contact of his in the Newark police department to detain her until we could come get her." She explained in a rather neutral tone.

Danny remembered the incident well. It was one of the few that occurred just before Casey had moved out of the house. He never had found out what had driven his sister to take off for Newark but she sure had been hell bent on getting there. He looked at his mother and then at Steve who sighed and put down the remote in favor of his cell phone.

"I'll call Chin…"

* * *

"Cuz, thanks for coming." The bartender greeted as Chin walked into the bar.

"You said it was something work related?" Chin asked

"The pretty little haole over there crying into her cocktail? She mentioned….well more like muttered something about the 5-0. Said she doesn't have anybody but I thought you might know her." The bartender gestured over his shoulder at the blonde slouched over her empty glass on the other side of the bar.

"Ya I know her. Thanks cuz." Chin sighed and walked over to her.

"Steve and Danny have been looking all over the island for you." He informed as he sat down on the empty stool next to Casey.

"Been here the whole time." She muttered, not looking at him.

"You know you shouldn't be drinking with a concussion." Chin warned. Danny had filled him in on the details of the afternoon when he called to ask if Chin had seen his sister.

"I don't think anyone would be upset if I slipped into a coma. Save everybody a lot of trouble." Casey slurred.

"What happened?" He asked gently.

"I finally ended things with Micah. He's dead to me….. and I feel like a part of me has died along with his memory." She sniffled.

"So you're what? Mourning him?" Casey shrugged.

"I'm not mourning him. I'm mourning the part of me I lost to him. I gave up so much of myself, sacrificed so many opportunities to better myself and I hurt good people, all because I let some guy-_some asshole_- control my life and tell me how to think and feel about myself. That's what I'm having a hard time getting over. For the past 6 year I lived my life on his schedule and did things according to the way he thought I should do them. How could I let someone have that much control over my life? I feel like someone's just pulled the wool out from over my eyes and I'm finally seeing things for what they really are." Casey explained, rubbing at her face roughly. "Six years of my life—gone. I'll never get them back. He made his choices and now I'm suffering the consequences. Well, me and Makayla." She shrugged and signaled for another drink.

* * *

"That's the problem with this damn island, too many opportunities to just sit and think. And it's the thinking that gets you in trouble not the actions that follow it." Casey explained as she looked out towards the ocean. She had been cut off awhile ago but was starting to slur her words badly.

"What exactly have you been thinking about?" Chin asked, pushing the cup of coffee he had ordered towards her.

"My life…and Makayla's life which always ends up leading to the same questions. Will she understand why I did what I did? Will she think I just took the easy way out? Will she hate me for the choices I made? I'm tormented by these thoughts. I want her to know my reasons but I have no idea how to go about telling her." Casey rested her head on her hand that was resting on the bar.

"You're a writer, so write it all down. It might be therapeutic for you to get it off your mind. Only bad things can come of letting thoughts fester too long in the back of your mind. Sometimes you just have to let the words out before they start to destroy you." Chin advised.

"Chin Ho Kelly, are you insinuating that you keep a journal of your deepest, darkest thoughts?" She inquired with a smile.

"I'm a complicated man." He smiled back.

"That you are." Casey agreed. "But see my problem is that I wouldn't even know where to begin with my problems."

"Why's that?" Chin was trying to keep up with her drunken ramblings but her thoughts were beginning to wander.

"Because somewhere along the line it became more about what was best for him and not what was best for me. Now I'm so far off track I can't even remember where I was going. I have a degree in American Literature which was done purely to spite my parents who wanted me to go to nursing school. I write stupid articles about bars and bake sales in papers that nobody reads anymore. I don't even know what I want any more out of my life."

"What did you want when you were younger?" He asked.

"I wanted to see the world, I wanted to experience things and do something other than a civil service shift work job. I wanted to be better than them, show them all I was so much more than what they said I was. And all I did was live right up to their expectations. Gave it all up for a guy who never really loved me anyways." She shrugged, suddenly feeling tired.

"Maybe you need to do a little more thinking to figure where to go from here." Chin suggested. Casey dropped her head down onto the bar with a groan.

"Come on, let's get you home before Steve and Danny put out an APB for you." Chin moved off his bar stool and helped Casey slide off of hers. "Are you sober enough to hang on to me on the motorcycle? Because I don't want to explain to them how your concussion became a skull fracture." Casey nodded. Chin paid her tab and the two made their way (Casey stumbling slightly) out of the bar and into the cool night.

* * *

"It doesn't make any sense." Danny thought aloud as he and Steve lay in bed later that night. Chin had safely returned Casey to them and helped get her tucked into bed with a bucket, some aspirin and a bottle of water nearby.

"What doesn't?" Steve asked.

"Everything that Casey's done since she was released from the hospital. I mean, she's always been rebellious but never like this. She doesn't go get plastered in some strange bar or purposely go looking for trouble….. it usually finds her. It just doesn't make any sense." Danny explained. Steve sighed and rolled over onto his side.

"She's been through a lot lately. She almost died having a baby that she had planned to give away and is now faced with the reality of never being able to have any more children of her own. That's a hell of a lot to deal with for someone her age." Steve pointed out.

"I know. I just wonder if she doesn't have the coping skills to get through this. She has a hard time dealing with major changes in her life." Danny pondered aloud. He knew from experience that when things went wrong, his sister had a history of falling apart and not being able to put the pieces back together quite right.

"So then we just have to work harder to help her cope. She's family, Danny. We can't walk away because things are difficult. Weren't you the one who told me that?" Steve said, looking Danny in the eye.

"Yes, I was." Danny sighed and rolled over onto his back. "We'll get her through this, Steve. How, I haven't a clue but we'll all get through this somehow."


	23. Heaven's Love At Stake With Hell to Pay

**A/N: **Here's a short something to set up for the last few chapters. Be prepared, things are about to come to ahead between Casey and her Mother in the next chapter.

_The wind is blowing down a quiet river, a silent road that leaves me all alone. A life for you is worth losing you forever. Someday we'll stand in God's fair land forever home. I wish that life wasn't always ending up this way with heaven's love at stake and hell to pay. -Allison Krauss, I Give You To His Heart_

* * *

"Casey, time to get up." Maggie announced as she opened the bedroom door.

"Dear god please stop yelling." Casey muttered into the bed as she wrapped her pillow around her head. The hangover from her pity drinking was only intensified by the concussion and any light or noise sent stabbing pains through her skull.

"I have no sympathy for your self induced pain." Maggie stated, pulling the pillow off her daughter's head. Casey hissed and then froze for a moment, willing herself not to throw up all over the sheets.

"Right because I punched myself in the face." She snapped once the nausea had passed. She turned her head slightly, revealing the vicious bruise that had developed on the side of her face.

"You put yourself in the situation." Maggie said definitely.

"Are you saying I was asking for it?" Casey asked incredulously. Maggie just shrugged. Casey took a deep breath to calm herself before responded. "What do you want Margaret?"

"I need you to watch the baby." Maggie declared and for the first time Casey realized the infant resting in the older woman's arms.

"Why?"

"The boys had to go back to work today and I need to go into town and run errands. So I need you to watch Makayla while I'm gone." She explained as she set the baby down on the bed next to Casey.

"Why can't you take her with you?" Casey asked as looked down at the infant in panic.

"Because I have a lot of things that I have to get done today and it will go much faster if I don't have to take her with me. Now she's still technically your daughter and you have avoided her for far too long. Spend the day together, it won't kill you." Maggie declared as she started to leave the room. Casey looked down at the blue eyed girl looking back up at her and sighed.

'_Oh mother, it just might'_

* * *

Kono couldn't help but smile as she watched her boss. Steve was in his office, supposedly working on paperwork, but every couple of minutes he would reach out for his phone, pick it up and then stop himself just before he dialed. He'd been repeating this process all morning and Kono had a good idea what was behind the action.

This was Steve and Danny's first day back to work since Makayla was born and it was obvious that the new father was having a hard time adjusting. Smiling, she rose from her desk and headed into his office, if for no other reason than to provide him a small distraction.

"Boss? Everything alright?" Kono asked with a smile as she entered the office. Steve looked up at her with wide eyes, looking somewhat surprised to see her.

"What? No! Everything's fine. I'm just…"

"Worrying about your baby?" She offered with a shrug. Steve sank a little in his chair and gave her a weary smile.

"That obvious huh?" He asked. She nodded.

"It's alright boss. It comes with the territory. I take it this is the first time you've had to leave her for any significant period of time?" Steve nodded. "Danny's mom still staying with you guys right?"

"Ya, for at least another week."

"What are you guys going to do after that?" Kono asked. Steve gave a humorless laugh.

"That is a good question. Danny wants to put her in daycare while I want to hire someone to watch her." He explained.

"Like a nanny?"

"Essentially." Steve shrugged. "Rachel gave us the number for some au pair type service but Danny is being stubborn saying our daughter is not some spoiled silver spoon baby that needs an au pair because her parents are too disinterested to raise her themselves—his words." Steve pointed out.

"But wouldn't a nanny make more sense? I mean, we don't always have the most predictable schedule and well, with the kind of attention 5-0 draws…" Kono trailed off. Steve got her point anyways.

"I've tried to explain this to Danny but he doesn't seem to want to budge. I think it's as much because the idea came from Rachel as it is the idea itself." Steve said, rolling his eyes.

"Maybe I could try to talk to him." Kono offered.

"You can give it a try." Steve said, not seeing how it could hurt anything.

"Alright. Now about your other problem—just call her, boss. Maggie Williams was a new mother at one point, I'm sure she'll understand you calling to check in. She'll probably think it's cute." Kono said before retreating from the office, smiling as she heard her boss pick up the phone and start to dial.

* * *

"Look, I know I'm not who you want but your dads had to go to work and your grandmother's mean so you're just going to have to put up with me for a few hours. I know I'm not real good at this but I'm trying Makayla, god knows I'm trying." Casey explained as her daughter's whines slowly became a persistent howl. She held the baby closer to her to no avail.

Makayla had started to cry about twenty minutes after Maggie left and it had been all downhill from there. Casey had tried picking her up, changing her diaper and giving her a bottle but nothing seemed to soothe the infant who had seemed to make it her mission to make Casey want to rip her own head off.

"I don't know what you want." Casey said, close to tears herself. "I know you don't want me. You _shouldn't _want me. I'm no good. I wreck everything I touch. It's why I've tried to stay away from you. The less interaction we have the less chance I have to screw things up for you. But right now, you're stuck with me honey. Please Makayla, cut your mommy a little slack here." She begged, a couple tears rolling down her cheeks.

The baby in her arms seemed to take her words to heart a little and her screams lessened to a miserable whine. Casey sighed a little and pressed a kiss to the top of her daughter's head as she sat back down on the bed, holding the baby as they both continued to cry. When the whining became soft sniffles, Casey pulled Makayla off her shouldered and laid her down gently on the bed. The baby looked up at her with watery blue eyes and Casey wiped her cheeks gently.

This was the first mother-daughter they had really had since Makayla had been born. Casey had been doing her best to avoid being alone with her daughter because she wasn't ready to face her own emotions-terrified that one of them would be the overwhelming desire to keep her daughter even after she had sworn to her brother that wouldn't happen. This moment this morning though had been a bit of a revelation to Casey. While Makayla was inconsolable, all Casey could think about was how she was the absolute wrong person to be raising the little girl. She had been watching the way that Danny, Steve and even her own mother were so natural when it came to dealing with Makayla while she was awkward and completely clueless.

"I'm just want to do what's best for you….even if it's not what's best for me." She said to the baby. "I want you. I wish I could keep you but Danny and Steve can give you the life that I never could. I promise that I'll always love you, I just won't always be there for you."

Staring down into her child's eyes now, Casey had come to a realization. She was one of those women who just wasn't cut out to be a mother. Her hysterectomy was God's way of insuring she couldn't make a second such mistake. She knew that for some women, the maternal instinct didn't come standard but in a dark place in the back of her mind, Casey couldn't help but wonder if her own mother wasn't partially to blame.


	24. I Wonder What You'd Say To Me

**A/n: **Okay so if you didn't hate Maggie Williams before this, you're really going to hate her now. I don't know why she came out as such a bitch but she did and I'm going with it. Finally we'll get some explanation as to what the problems is between these two.

_Sometimes I think about you and wonder if you're out there somewhere thinking 'bout me. And would you even recognize the woman that your little girl has grown up to be? Cause I look in the mirror and all I see are your brown looking back at me, they're the only thing you ever gave to me at all-Kellie Pickler, I Wonder_

* * *

Casey and Makayla had a whole twenty minutes of peace before the baby's screaming session started again. Casey had managed to grab a quick shower and as she was getting dressed again her phone rang waking the baby who had fallen asleep in her carrier on the bed.

"Shit." Casey cursed as she grabbed the phone. It was too late as Makayla started to howl, clearly unhappy with being woken up from her nap. "Hello?" She answered sharply, irritated at whoever had called her.

"Casey? Everything alright?" Steve asked, concern obvious in his voice.

He had already called Maggie and had been informed that Makayla's mother was currently taking care of her. To say that Steve was concerned was a bit of an understatement. It wasn't that he didn't trust Casey with his (hers? Theirs?) daughter, it was more that he wasn't sure Casey was ready to be taking care of Makayla. She seemed to be having a hard enough time dealing with everything as it was and adding an upset baby to her already delicate state might not have been the best idea.

"Everything's fine." Casey answered trying to sound confident and not worry him. The last thing she wanted was for Steve and Danny to think she was totally incompetent.

"Are you sure?" Steve asked again and it was then that Casey realized that Steve could probably hear Makayla screaming in the background. Too tired and stressed to fight it, Casey admitted defeat.

"No Steve, she won't stop screaming. I've done everything that I can think of to try to settle her down and nothing is working and I don't know what to do anymore." She explained, willing herself not to cry again.

"Alright, everything is going to be alright." He reassured gently. "The first thing you have to do is calm yourself down. Babies can sense when you're upset which makes them upset. If you're calm and confident, then she'll be calm too."

"Are you telling me that babies can sense fear?" She asked in slight disbelief.

"Kind of." Steve chuckled. Casey took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down. "If that doesn't work, you can also try swaddling her tightly and then holding her on your chest with her ear pressed against your heart so she can hear your heartbeat. It's a comforting sound to her because she heard it for nine months in your belly." He informed.

"How do you know all of this? You've been a parent for what? Two weeks?" Casey asked. Danny had told her the Steve was a Super SEAL but somehow this didn't seem like something that would come up in military training.

"I can't take the credit for it. Your mom actually taught me what to do." Steve replied.

"My mom taught you?" Casey asked, sounding slightly hurt. Her mom was willing to teach Steve how to be a parent and yet, she thrusts the baby upon her and expected her to know what to do.

"Casey, I'm sorry. I didn't-" Steve started, realizing his mistake.

Things between the two Williams women weren't going well and when he looked close, at times, Steve could see the look of a little girl on Casey's face, desperate for her mother's approval but never was able to achieve it.

"Don't worry about it." Casey cut him off, not wanting to his pity. "Look, I think I got the hang of things now, thanks Steve. I'll see you guys later." She said, hanging up before Steve could say anything else. Casey looked over at her crying daughter and sighed.

"Don't worry honey. You won't have to deal with your mama much longer, I promise."

* * *

The house was quite again by the time that Maggie returned home later that afternoon. Makayla was asleep in her bassinet while Casey sat at the kitchen table, papers spread out around her as she hung her head in her hands.

"Have a rough day?" Maggie asked as she set down her bags. Casey looked up at her with watery eyes.

"You could say that." Casey responded bitterly. A tense silence passed between the two women as Maggie began to put away her groceries.

"What's all that?" She finally asked, gesturing to the paperwork in front of her daughter.

"It's the adoption paperwork. I have to sign all this stuff so I can terminate my paternal rights to Makayla and give custody over to the guys." Casey explained with a heavy heart.

"Oh." Maggie said, turning back to her task.

"You know, you haven't said much about this adoption which is odd because you _always _have something to say." Casey pointed out.

"I didn't realize my opinion was necessary." Maggie scoffed.

"It's not. But I know it exists."

"You want my honest opinion?" Maggie asked, turning back towards her daughter.

"No, I want you to lie." Casey responded sarcastically. Maggie continued on, ignoring her daughter's outbursts.

"Personally I think you're doing the right thing because you have no right to be raising a child. You don't have any semblance of stability in your life-no way to support yourself, no man to help take care of the two of you. You would only be destroying her life and your own if you decided to keep her. Daniel and Steven can provide a much better life for Makayla than you could." Maggie explained honestly. It took everything that Casey had not to let her mother's words affect her. "But you already knew all these things, it's why you chose adoption. Or at least that's what your brother told me. Why did you need to hear it from me? So you could blame it on me like everything else bad that's happened in your life?"

"Are you trying to say that you aren't at least partly responsible for a lot it?" Casey accused.

"How could I possibly be responsible for the situation you're in now? I didn't get you pregnant and I certainly didn't tell you to give your baby away." Maggie responded.

"I'm giving my child away because I don't want to end up like you!" Casey shouted, having had enough of her mother's attitude. "I don't want my daughter to grow up constantly wondering if she was a mistake that her mother was too afraid to fix. I don't want her to have to feel the way I did, like she was a burden to me." The younger woman choked out as she began to sob.

"Is that what you think I thought? That you were a mistake and a burden?" Maggie asked, her expression slightly stunned at the accusation.

"I know I wasn't wanted. That was always made pretty clear to me. At least this way Makayla will know that _somebody_ wanted her, that _somebody_ gave a damn." Casey explained with venom in her voice.

"Casey Lynn, while your birth was certainly not planned it does not mean that you were not wanted. Your father and I were overjoyed to have a little girl-"

"Really? Because you _never_ made it seem that way." Casey accused.

"Do you know why I was so hard on you growing up? It's because I knew from the time you were a little baby that you were born to run and I knew that all I could do was try to hold on to you for as long as possible." Maggie stated.

"Yeah well in trying to hold onto me, you just made me want to run more. And after Daddy had his accident, it's like you forgot all about me."

"Your father needed me more and you were so independent—"

"I was eight!" Casey screamed. "I still need my mommy and my daddy and you both abandoned me. I had no choice but to grow up and be independent. Most days you were too tired and daddy was too depressed to pay attention. Why do you think I did the things that I did? I wanted your attention! And at least if you were mad at me then I knew you cared enough to be mad, but more often than not you could have cared less about me. Danny was more of a parent to me than you."

"I never knew you felt this way." Maggie said softly.

"Because you never bothered to ask." Casey declared. "You know, I was going to go to nursing school like you wanted me to, until the end of my junior year. I got Bs in every subject but American Literature in which I got an A. You called it a worthless grade, said that it didn't mean anything. So I went to college and got a degree in American Literature just to prove you wrong. Do you understand that? I got a fucking college degree just to spite you." Casey said, running her hand through her roughly.

"What about your father?" Maggie asked, avoiding her daughter's stare.

"What about him?" Casey replied, not sure why her mother was bringing him into the conversation.

"You don't seem to be angry with him." Maggie pointed out.

"What's the point in being mad at somebody who can't even look you in the eye?" Casey responded sharply.

"You know, you put your father on a pedestal so high there was no way he could stay there. You set yourself up for heartbreak." Maggie said. Casey looked at her with wide eyes.

"Right, it was all my fault, just like always. Doesn't matter that I was e_ight _and didn't know any better." Casey spat as she pushed herself away from the table. "I don't know why I even bother talking with you. It's like going around in a circle, always ending up at the same stupid points. I can promise you this though Margaret, that I'll be a better mother than you though in this respect, that at least I'll be able to admit to my daughter when I've screwed up and made a mistake. Something that you seem incapable of." Casey threw at her mother before heading out to the lanai and slamming the door behind her.


	25. Between a Mother and a Child

**A/n: **and here's another part of the story to explain why Casey is screwed up. We'll get Danny and Maggie's perspective later.

_Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple—Dr. Seuss_

* * *

Steve felt bad. He knew that he had upset Casey earlier when he had called and now seeing her looking so upset was making him feel worse. He and Danny had returned home to find Makayla content in her bassinet while Maggie sat pensively in the living room reading. Casey was outside in one of the deck chairs and it was clear to the two men that something had gone down between the mother and daughter so they decided to divide and conquer. Danny had taken his mother while Steve went to Casey who was sitting curled up in the chair as she stared out absently at the ocean. He didn't say anything, waiting for his sister-in-law to start the conversation.

"Has Danny ever told you much about our father?" Casey asked Steve as he sat down in the wooden chair next to her.

"I know he was a firefighter and that he had to retire earlier because of an injury but that's about it." Steve replied with a shrug. Danny didn't talk much about his family and Steve never really thought to ask.

"Well, that's the cliff notes version of things. Let me tell you a little story." Casey said. "I adored my father when I was younger. I didn't think there was anybody in the world who was braver or stronger or cooler than my daddy. I mean I literally took the daddy's girl thing to an extreme. My father was a firefighter and a damn good one. A lot of times, he'd get called out in the middle of the night and sometimes he would be back in time to take me to school and sometimes he wouldn't. But one night he got called away and when I woke up in the morning, both my parents were gone and it was just me, Matt and Danny." A haunted look flashed over Casey's eyes. It was one that Steve recognized because it's the same one he got when he talked about his mother.

"Your dad got hurt on the call." He stated. Casey nodded.

"He had gone back in to get one of the men who had gotten trapped because firefighters and SEALs share a common philosophy that you don't leave a man behind. He got the other man out but as my father way trying to escape, the roof of the building collapse. One of the ceiling beams fell on him and trapped him. The beam broke his back in several places and knocked him unconscious. He suffered some minor burns but it was the back and head injury that were most severe." She explained.

"How bad?"

"The beam fell across his shoulder blades. He broke five vertebrae in his back as well as both his collar bones. He was in coma for four days. I was eight at the time and everybody thought I was too young to be able to handle it, so nobody told me anything. I wasn't allowed to visit my father until two weeks after the fact when his burns had cleared up some and he wasn't wearing a neck brace anymore. I remember telling my dad that it was all going to be okay. That he'd get better and go back to the firehouse and everything would go back to normal." Casey said, tears welling up in her eyes.

"It never goes back to normal." Steve declared with a whisper.

"Nope." Casey shook her head in agreement. "My father went through almost a year of physical therapy to regain the strength in his upper body and legs. To get back on the job though, he had to pass a physical….Steve I can still remember that day as if it were yesterday." She whispered, tears now running down her cheeks.

"He didn't pass the test." Steve said, his heart breaking as he realized where this story was going. Casey shook her head.

"He didn't have the strength to carry the dummies or the hoses and the doctors said he probably never would. I remember telling my father that it was okay, that he just had to keep getting bigger and stronger and then he could try again. He snapped at me. I can't recall exactly what he said to me but remember the look in his eyes. He was defeated. He'd given up. And as a little girl, to see that look in the eyes of the man I considered to be my hero—it was like finding out that the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus and God didn't exist. I was so disappointed and my father knew it, because he hasn't looked me in the eyes since." Casey choked as she tried to hold back her tears.

Looking at her Steve could see the scared little girl, no older than Grace, in his sister-in-law's eyes. He couldn't help but think about Grace and what it would do to her if something like that ever happened to her Danno. He made a silent vow to make sure he never had to find out.

"So where does the conflict with your mom come in?" Steve asked. Her whole story so far had been about her father but from what he knew, the real issues were between her and her mother.

"After my dad failed his physical, he quit going to rehab and went on disability. He still needed a lot of help getting around and if he had finished his rehab he would have become independent again but instead he would sit around all day watching TV until my mother got home. Then he would bark out orders to her and me to do the things he needed. My mother was exhausted between taking care of him and working full time and I didn't make things any easier. The stupidest thing is that all of the anger and resentment that I have isn't even about her—it's about him. I was mad at him for giving up and not trying harder but I blamed her because I thought she didn't push him hard enough. I didn't understand then what a difficult situation she was really in." Casey explained, the bitterness and regret evident in her voice.

She had spent most of the afternoon thinking about everything that had gone on between her and her mother and was beginning to realize as she looked at her own situation that she may have been harder on her mother than necessary at times. Not to say that Maggie hadn't made things difficult but she was dealing with her own issues and maybe she didn't have the best coping skills either. As the saying goes, like mother like daughter.

"How could you have known? You were just a child." Steve reminded. Casey smiled humorlessly at him.

"The problem is that I still am. I may have gotten older but I certainly haven't 'grown up', not until now at least. Now I'm doing it all at once and it's a little overwhelming. Do you know the one thing I wanted to do more than anything when I found out I was pregnant?"

"What?" He asked.

"I wanted to be able to call my mother. I wanted to be able to call her and cry and tell her that I was scared and I didn't know what to do. I wanted her love and advice. But I burnt that bridge a long time ago and I don't think we can ever go back." Casey admitted, wiping at her tears violently.

With everything that she had been through lately, she was starting to realize that this feud that she had perpetuated between the two of them was only causing them both pain and they were both too stubborn and proud to admit fault.

"I bet if you were willing to try, you and your mother could fix your relationship. It might not ever be perfect again but you could at least be civil towards each other and have some type of relationship again." Steve pointed out.

"I don't know where to start." Casey stated, feeling a little lost. She wasn't even sure her mother would want to fix things considering how awful her daughter had treated her.

"You start by apologizing and asking for forgiveness. Then you let go of all the baggage and bullshit that's kept you two apart for so many years." At least, that's what Steve would have done with his father if he had been given the chance.

"That simple huh?" Casey asked, looking at him skeptically.

"I know it seems overly simple for such a complicated problem but sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple." Steve stated.

"Thanks Dr. Seuss." Casey ran a hand through her hair. "God I hate groveling but I feel like this is something that I have to do for my daughter. This is another example that I have to set for her because how can I ask her to have a relationship with me if I don't have one with my own mother?" She shrugged.

"You want a relationship with Makayla?" Steve asked, a little surprised considering how his sister-in-law had been doing her best to avoid the baby for the past few weeks. It was also one of the first times that he had heard her referring to Makayla as her daughter.

"Shockingly yes. At first, I thought that I had to stay away, that her not knowing me would be better. And then I stopped and thought about my own life and how desperately I wanted a relationship with my mother and how different my life could have been if I had a better one. So I decided that I needed to be there for her, in spirit if not in the flesh. That is, if you guys want me to be involved." Casey admitted.

"Of course we want you to be a part of Makayla's life. You're her mother, that's a role that Danny and I can never fill in her life. We may be her parents but she'll only ever have one mother." Steve explained. Casey looked over at her brother-in-law with a watery smile.

"Thanks Steve, for listening. I didn't realize how much I just need to talk to someone."

"You should talk to Danny. He wants to help you." Steve suggested.

"I know." Casey nodded. "I just feel like I'm taking advantage of him-"

"You're not." Steve quickly corrected. "It's in Danny's nature to want to help people. It's not an imposition to ask him—or me—for help."

"I want to get to a point in my life where I don't need to ask for help." Casey sighed.

"No shame in needing a little back up from time to time. That's definitely something your brother has taught me." Steve chuckled.

"Does that back up happen to come heavily armed?" Casey asked, only half joking. Steve gave her a smile.

"It comes with full means and immunity."


	26. Need a Sunrise, Tired of the Sunset

**A/n: **You didn't think it would be that easy, did you? Not with this family. Anyways, we're getting close to the end here folks. Sad but true BUT I have so much more in store for Steve, Danny and baby Makayla (and we'll see Casey and the others along the way too).

_She said I think I'm going to Boston, I think start a new life. I think I'll start it over where no one knows my name. I'll get out of California, I'm tired of the weather….I think I'll go to Boston, I think that I'm just tired. I think I need a new town to leave this all behind. I think I need a sun rise; I'm tired of the sunset. I here it's nice in the summer, some snow would be nice. Boston, no one knows my name. -Augustana, Boston_

* * *

Casey had taken the night to think about what she and Steve had talked about out on the beach front. It had been so easy to talk to him about everything that had gone wrong after her father's accident and she told him things that she hadn't been able to tell anyone-not even Danny-in the sixteen years since it had happened. She had confided in Micah about her family issues once early in their relationship and his answer was to pull her even farther away from her parents. He fueled her anger and added more problems to her life. At seventeen it was hard to see that he was simply using a lost girl desperate for any kind of attention to suit his own needs.

'_All the time I wasted on his sorry ass'_ Casey thought to herself as she gently fingered the bruise on her face. The ugly black and blue blotches were slowly starting to fade to yellow around the edges and the knot on the back of her head was starting to go down. _'At least you were smart enough to realize you couldn't bring a child into that mess of a relationship'_ She sighed and pulled a lightweight sundress on over her head before heading out of her bedroom. Casey padded gently down the hall to the next bedroom where she crept over to the crib.

Makayla was sleeping peacefully in her crib, down for her morning nap. Casey ran a finger down the infant's silky soft cheek. She was truly a beautiful child and was thriving despite being slightly premature and coming into the world through a difficult birth. Makayla was certainly doing better than her mother was. Casey wanted to smile. Her plan had worked out just as she had hoped it would. Steve and Danny were head over heels for the baby and the adoption was set to go through without a problem now that Micah had finally signed the papers but somehow Casey was having a hard time bringing herself to be happy.

'_What have you got to be happy about? You've got no job, no man, no baby—no future. At least not on the path you're heading down' _She told herself as the cruel part of her brain took over. There was a certain sad truth to it but Casey was determined not to become a self fulfilling prophecy. She was going to change. She didn't have any other choice.

Maggie was in the kitchen washing out baby bottle in the sink when Casey approached. She slowly made herself a cup of coffee as she worked up her nerve. Maggie, for her part, didn't seem to notice her daughter as she took a seat at one of the bar stool by the island. Casey took a long drink from her mug before setting it down and finally addressing her mother.

"I wanted to say I'm sorry for my outburst yesterday. I was stressed out and I took it out on you unfairly." Casey said, working hard at keeping her voice neutral sounding.

"Casey after twenty some years, I've gotten used to your tantrums." Maggie said, not even turning around to face her. Casey bit her tongue as she continued her apology.

"I also wanted to say I was sorry for some of the things I said. I made some unfair accusations of you. It was sixteen years of misguided frustration coming out all at once. I'm starting to realize now, being a mother myself, that I was blaming you for things that weren't necessarily your fault." Casey admitted. Maggie set her hands down on the sides of the sink.

"Well, I'm so glad that I have your forgiveness. I can die a happy woman now." Maggie said sarcastically and this time, Casey had a little harder time biting her tongue.

"Look, I know I haven't been a perfect daughter by any means," She started. "But you haven't exactly been a perfect mother. You and I are both to blame for the way things are between us. I want to fix things—I want to try—but you have to meet me half way."

"And why should I do that?" Maggie asked, warily. "For most of your life, you've wanted nothing to do with me. How do you think that made me feel Casey? For a mother to be rejected by her only daughter? It was devastating."

"You thought I was rejecting you? You were the one who rejected me!" Casey exclaimed and then took a deep breath to try to calm herself down. Nothing was going to be accomplished by getting into another screaming match. "Like I said, we're both at fault for the way things are which means that we both have to agree to lay down our arms and call a truce."

Maggie tossed a towel over her shoulder and turned to look at her daughter fully. It hurt her to see the ugly bruise marring her pale skin and the mother in her wanted nothing more than to reach out and run a gentle hand over her baby girl's cheek. But Casey wasn't her baby anymore. A dark part of her thought that maybe she never had been. So instead of embracing her child, Maggie crossed her arms over her chest defensively.

"Casey, you are my child and there is a part of me that will always love you no matter how insufferable you are, but there is a larger part of me right now that just can't forget the way you have treated not only me but your father and your brothers for all these years. I understand that you've gone through a lot recently but it doesn't excuse your behavior. You are an adult and until you start acting like one….well I just don't think we can have the relationship you're looking for." Maggie said bluntly before turning her back on Casey.

* * *

"Everything alright?" Danny asked as he knocked on her bedroom door. For the second night in a row he and Steve had returned home to a feeling of tension so thick in the house they could have cut it with one of Steve's machetes.

"No, Danny. Everything is NOT alright. It hasn't been alright for sixteen years." Casey snapped as she continued to throw clothes onto the bed.

"Sixteen years? What are you talking about?" He asked, confused.

"I'm talking about how this family fell apart after Dad's accident and nobody bothered to put it back together. I'm talking about the fact that our father is a fucking shell of the man he was and how I'm pretty sure our mother hates me. And I'm talking about how I've been trying to deal with this all for so long that it's starting to break me down to a point where I can't even function like a proper human being anymore." Casey choked out as she tried not to cry. Steve had encouraged her to talk to Danny after their conversation the night before. She hadn't gotten a chance then and by now the re-opened wound had time to fester into an angry sore again.

"Whoa whoa, where is this coming from?" Danny asked as he came further into the room.

"I talked to Steve last night. I told him everything that you hadn't bothered to about what a truly dysfunctional family he's married into." She said bitterly. "And I told him about how I had been thinking about the part I had played in making things so screwed up and how badly I want Mom to love me-"

"Mom does love you." Danny stated but Casey ignored him as she continued on with her tirade

"So your husband told me that I should just go to her and tell her that I was sorry and ask for her forgiveness so that we could move on from the past. Like it's that fucking simple." Casey ranted, getting angrier as she went on.

"You try to talk to mom today didn't you?" Danny asked, suddenly knowing where this was going. Casey nodded and he frowned. "I take it things didn't go well?"

"She told me that she was used to my tantrums by now and that I can't expect her to just forgive me for all that I put her through for all these years. She loves me Danny, but she just doesn't like me." Casey explained as she wiped viciously at the tears that had betrayed her.

"Aww Casey, she didn't-"

"Don't tell me she didn't mean it, Daniel!" Casey shouted, pulling at her hair. "I know she did and she's right. That's the worst part. As much as it hurts, Margaret Williams has a point." Casey admitted. "I have no right to ask her for forgiveness and if the situation had been reversed, I would have said the same thing." She sat down on the edge of the bed, the fight slowly leaving her. She looked out the window and took a few deep breaths before she spoke again. "I have to go, Danny."

"Go? Go where?" Danny asked, suddenly feeling uneasy.

"Away from here. Away from you, and Steve and Mom and Makayla….just anywhere but here." Casey declared.

"Why?"

"Because I have to change. I've already pushed so many people out of my life, I don't know how much longer I can go on like this before there's no one left on my side. It's reached a point where my words are meaningless so I have to let my actions speak for me." She explained.

Danny took a long look at the woman sitting on the bed next to him. When Casey had come to the island eight months ago, it was hard for him to remember how old she was because she had always seemed so much younger than she truly was. Now as he looked at his baby sister with her hair a mess and stray tears running down her bruised cheek, he saw a woman suddenly wise beyond her years. It was a huge step for Casey to admit she needed to change and that her behavior was wrong because she had held steadfast to her self-righteous attitude like a shield to protect her from the realities of her life. Now her armor was gone and she was left raw, exposed and extremely vulnerable. It was instinctual for Danny to want to help her build her defense back up but he realized that this was something that she had do to on her own.

"Where are you going to go?" Danny asked softly.

"Chicago?" Casey shrugged.

"Why Chicago? What's there?"

"The Cubs?" Casey offered with a smile. "There is nothing there, that's kind of the point. I need somewhere with no memories, where no one knows me and I can start over with a clean slate."

"You could do that here you know." He said, offering her one last line of support just in case she wasn't quite ready to be so independent. But Casey shook her head.

"No I can't. Not with you guys here." She replied gently. "Besides, Makayla is your daughter now and it wouldn't be fair of me to be hovering around when you're her parents. It'll be better this way, I swear." Casey vowed.

"Aw kid," Danny said, reaching over to put his arm around her. "I know this isn't easy but I'm damn proud of you. I want you to know that I'm here for you-so is Steve. And Makayla is going to be proud to have a mother like you to look up to as an example. I promise you that." Casey just nodded as tears welled up in her eyes. "I love you baby sis." Danny declared kissing the top of her head and thought to himself.

'_Hopefully, someday you'll love you too'_


	27. Eagles, Anchors and Miracles

**A/N: **Well this is it. We've reached the end of this part of the journey. I've kind of purposely left things open and not tied up some of the loose ends. I also realized that I've so far ended both stories with the same subject: Steve's tattoos. Funny how that worked out. Anyways, I absolutely plan to continue on in with future stories about Steve and Danny and fatherhood. If you have any ideas of things you'd like to see them go through feel free to let me know. So long for now.

_The child most know he is a miracle. That since the beginning of the world there hasn't been and until the end of the world there will not be, another child like him- Pablo Casals._

* * *

"I cannot believe you did that." Danny said incredulously as he stared at his husband's back as if he had x-ray vision to see through to the front.

"Oh come on Danny, it's not like it's the first time I've done it." Steve reminded as he attempted to dress his month old daughter.

"No but it's the first time you've decided to permanently brand yourself with someone's name-and not just any someone's name—it was _my _name." Danny explained unnecessarily. Steve was perfectly aware of what was now inked onto the left side of his chest. "Don't you know that's like the number one rule of tattoos? You can get your mother, your dog—even your child—but you NEVER tattoo your spouse's name anywhere on your body no matter how romantic it is."

"What? You try to say we're not going to last Danno?" Steve asked sarcastically.

He was completely aware of the unspoken rule of body art. The guy at the shop had reminded him of it before he started, wanting to make sure that Steve knew the consequences of what he was doing -which he did. He understood the rationale behind not tattooing a lover name when they could be gone before the proverbial ink dries but the truth was that even if Danny did ever leave him (And god forbid that should ever happen. They were too invested to turn back now) he would still have been an important part of Steve's life which left him with no regrets.

The tattoo was simple but highly symbolic. It consisted of the Navy emblem of an eagle perched above two crossed anchors and a shield. It was something that he had been wanting for awhile but had never gotten around to getting done. He had taken it a step further though. Along one of the eagle's wings was his mother's name in flowing script to represent the way that he felt she was always watching over and guiding him in his life. On one of the anchors the two bottom hooks were made using Grace and Makayla's names while the other one simply read Danno. He had put them there because they were his anchors in life and kept him grounded and centered instead of wondering around like a ship lost at sea as he had been before they came into his life. On the shield was the 5-0 that served as the protectorate of all the things Steve loved. The tattoo was no more than a couple inches big placed strategically across his heart where he always would carry all of those things.

"I don't get why you're upset about this. Casey said you would love it." Steve shrugged as he tried to get Makayla's arm through the sleeve of her dress.

"Casey knew about this?"

"Yeah, she was with me when I got it. She had asked me where I got my ink done and so I tagged along with her when she wanted to get hers done." Steve explained.

"You let my sister get a tattoo?" Danny exclaimed, clearly not pleased with this information.

"Danny she's almost 25, I can't exactly tell her she can't. Besides, it's a pretty awesome tat." Steve pointed out.

"With her I can only imagine." Danny mumbled.

Steve wanted to correct his partner's assumption that he was something frivolous or stupid. It was anything but. She had gotten 'Makayla Rose' in a deep pink script tattooed just above her C-Section scar with a rose bud coming off of the 'e' at the end and resting on her hip bone. It was classy and simple and it had broken Steve's heart a little when she had told him her reasoning behind the ink.

"_That way I can always know that right there for at least a little while…she was mine."_

Steve wanted to tell Danny all of this but Casey had begged him not to make a big deal about it, knowing if Danny found out he would. So he just turned his attention back to trying to get Makayla into the long white dress that was far too intricate and complicated for a newborn to be wearing but it was a special occasion. They were having an adoption ceremony for Makayla which was their attempt at a Christening.

Maggie had been commenting about having one ever since she had arrived saying that all of her children had been christened in the Catholic Church and that they needed to do it soon if they were going to do it at all. They had no problem with a christening but the Church did considering Steve wasn't Catholic, Danny was divorce, they were in a same sex relationship and Makayla was bastard child considering that Steve and Danny weren't technically married in the eyes of the Church and neither were her biological parents. So as they had done with their wedding, they had improvised.

Danny had done some research about adoption ceremonies and felt that it would be a suitable replacement for a christening. He had even managed to convince Casey to stick around for another week so that she could be a part of it even though she had made up her mind and was desperate to leave. Maggie had insisted though that they use the christening gown she had brought with her for reasons unknown.

"The dress is a little overkill, don't you think?" Casey commented as she came to stand in the doorway of the nursery.

"I don't think so." Danny replied. "I think you look nice." He said, giving her a kiss on the cheek as he passed.

Mary had taken his sister shopping for a new dress the other day after Casey had made a comment about how the only nice dress she had that fit anymore was the one she had worn to the wedding. The new dress they had purchased light blue sleeveless number that was rouched in the chest and flowed out from an empire waistline which covered up any residual weight she was still carrying from the pregnancy. A silvery grey sweater accompanied the dress and she had her hair in soft waved pulled away from her face with clips. She looked natural and Danny always thought that was when she looked prettiest.

"Well thanks for the compliment, but I wasn't talking about me. I was talking about her." Casey said gesturing towards the baby dressed in the long white gown. "Where did you even get it?" She asked. It was clearly a christening gown but from what she had been told, this wasn't an official christening ceremony so the fancy gown seemed like a bit much.

"It was yours." Maggie answered as she entered the room. "That was the gown you were christened in." Casey looked at her daughter and then to her mother who had a distant look in her eyes as she stared at Makayla. After a minute, she noticed Casey's attention on her. "What?"

"Nothing…I just can't believe you kept it." Casey replied, trying not to let her emotions show.

She was trying to fix her relationship with her mother. It wasn't going to an easy process and she didn't need to make things worse by adding inflammatory comments when they weren't necessary. Maggie for her part didn't rise to the occasion either.

"Danny, the guests are starting to arrive downstairs." She informed.

"Alright thanks Ma, we'll be right now." Danny assured. His mother simply nodded and returned back down the stairs.

"I should go downstairs and see if Kono needs any help." Casey said.

Kono had helped them put this whole thing together including getting things set up that morning. It was increasingly harder to do things at any kind of a normal pace with an infant in the house and it was only going to get harder when Maggie and Casey left and it was just the two of them.

Alone again, Danny came over to stand next to Steve as they both looked down at their daughter staring back up at them with her big blue eyes.

"It's hard to believe that it was just under a year ago that we stood out on that very beach and committed ourselves to each other and now here we are about to commit ourselves to this little miracle." Danny said softly as he ran a hand over Makayla's soft head. "Is it everything you wanted?" He asked, looking up into Steve's sea green eyes.

"It's more." Steve said, leaning down for a kiss. "It's so much more."


End file.
